القصائد الممنوعة

by Nizar Qabbani, نزار قباني

Genres: Poetry

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

Nizar Tawfiq Qabbani was a Syrian diplomat, poet and publisher. His poetic style combines simplicity and elegance in exploring themes of love, eroticism, feminism, religion, and Arab nationalism. Qabbani is one of the most revered contemporary poets in the Arab world, and is considered to be Syria's National Poet.

When Qabbani was 15, his sister, who was 25 at the time, committed suicide because she refused to marry a man she did not love. During her funeral he decided to fight the social conditions he saw as causing her death. When asked whether he was a revolutionary, the poet answered: “Love in the Arab world is like a prisoner, and I want to set (it) free. I want to free the Arab soul, sense and body with my poetry. The relationships between men and women in our society are not healthy.” He is known as one of the most feminist and progressive intellectuals of his time.

While a student in college he wrote his first collection of poems entitled The Brunette Told Me. It was a collection of romantic verses that made several startling references to a woman's body, sending shock waves throughout the conservative society in Damascus. To make it more acceptable, Qabbani showed it to Munir al-Ajlani, the minister of education who was also a friend of his father and a leading nationalist leader in Syria. Ajlani liked the poems and endorsed them by writing the preface for Nizar's first book.

The city of Damascus remained a powerful muse in his poetry, most notably in the Jasmine Scent of Damascus. The 1967 Six-Day War also influenced his poetry and his lament for the Arab cause. The defeat marked a qualitative shift in Qabbani's work – from erotic love poems to poems with overt political themes of rejectionism and resistance. For instance, his poem Marginal Notes on the Book of Defeat, a stinging self-criticism of Arab inferiority, drew anger from both the right and left sides of the Arab political dialogue.

Reviews

[Lina AL Ojaili · Rating 4 out of 5]

مسافرون خارج الزمان والمكان
مسافرون ضيعوا نقودهم ..وضيعوا متاعهم
ضيعوا أبناءهم ..وضيعوا أسماءهم..وضيعوا إنتماءهم..
وضيعوا الإحساس بالأمان
فلا بنو هاشم يعرفوننا ..ولا بنو قحطان
ولا بنو ربيعة ..ولا بنو شيبان
ولا بنو "لينين" يعرفوننا ..ولا بنو "ريجان"
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مواطنون دونما وطن

مطاردون كالعصافير على خرائط الزمن

مسافرون دون أوراق .. وموتى دونما كفن

نحن بغايا العصر

كل حاكم يبيعنا ويقبض الثمن

نحن جواري القصر

يرسلوننا من حجرة لحجرة

من قبضة لقبضة

من مالك لمالك

ومن وثن إلى وثن

نركض كالكلاب كل ليلة

من عدن لطنجة

ومن طنجة إلى عدن

نبحث عن قبيلة تقبلنا

نبحث عن ستارة تسترنا

وعن سكن

وحولنا أولادنا

إحدودبت ظهورهم وشاخوا

وهم يفتشون في المعاجم القديمة

عن جنة نظيرة

عن كذبة كبيرة .. كبيرة

تدعى الوطن
--------------------------
هل تعرفون من أنا ؟
مواطن يسكن دولة قمع ستان.
..مواطن
يحلم فى يوم من الأيام أن يصبح فى مرتبة الحيوان

[Heba]

عندي كتاب القصائد الممنوعة .. قصائد خلف الأسوار لمحمد رضوان

[Ahmed Ali]

i like it

[raShit · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Seni seviyorum
İçime akan bir küçük nehir, bir güvercin
Uzak zamanlardan gelen bir elçi gibi
Ve bir şiir gibi... söz verip de gelmeyen
Postada cıvıldaşan bir aşk mektubu gibi..."