A woman's voice

In the night

The river's flesh

Blacker than the sun

Stirring up the lizards

In ancient desires' lands

Giving birth to rhythm and song

Conceiving resistance

Where it is most hidden

The gold of eyes

That lurk in the shade

Dark

Dark

Dark

I, the priest in trance

The dancer with no shore

Conceived the dream

Of sun's rebirth

Sharpen your spears, you

Who are choosen by this day's sunrise

River of darkness

River of freedom

For how long have you been submerged

Not men but arrows

Each bound to its aim

Not women but earthen birds

Not of clay but of sunlight

And of souls and humid eternity

Spirits stir upon the waters

The white boats are sailing again

And the river opens

To your craving's burning streams

Jungle bird

I buried you

I cried

I cried

Into your pain

You consumed my heart

And forced it into the shape

Of your soul

Out of my trance you were

Reborn

In the draught

My dreams choked

But I turned them into

A snake

Under a stone

And my tongue caught

The water's proud spirit

To force it into

My entrails

I split my heart

Into fragments

And each of them

Created a sea

That poured down the rain's heavy flood

On the dead hungry land

And the warriors rose

Tomorrow this night's whisper

Shall be a chant that plants its seed

Into the air

And the skies pregnant with

The impending decision

Shall bear their ancient banner

 

To Muhammad Al Faituri, the Sudan's greatest writer of the 20th century and one of the greatest writers African and Arab literature has ever produced, a passionate, prophetic voice of African and Arab unity whose literary and political work today is of greater relevance than ever.

He was a voice not only of Northern but also of Southern Sudanese African identity and held various posts in the governments of Egypt, Syria and Lebanon during the 1960's and 1970's.

All boundaries in Africa and the Middle East are unhistoric and unnatural boundaries imposed by colonial administration. They separate people of the same ethnic group, the same clan and the same family. The existence of these boundaries is the reason for the conflicts by which the East and Africa are choked and bleed out their vital force. Every war about borders is a senseless and inhuman war, a war of the father against the son, of the uncle against the nephew and of the brother against the brother. It is fratricide and, more importantly, suicide.

We are hearing calls for such a war in the Lebanon, a country that has only just started to recover from the devastating wounds of such a war which has brought the Lebanese people nothing but death and destruction. I have grown up with the pictures of this war and with the pictures of the atrocities of Sabra and Shatila where defenceless men, women and children were massacred by the same forces who are now calling for war against Syria, people like General Aoun -an ally and comrade-in-arms to Sharon- who has announced his return to Lebanon and to war. People like him are returning in order to complete what they haven't finished in the 80's. Though I have lived abroad in those years, these pictures were so intense and featured in every conversation at the time that the memories of my childhood are inseparably linked with the memories of the Lebanese civil war.

I cannot remain alive and be silent to what is happening now. If I die because I am saying this, I will die without regrets. I'm not a stranger to assassinations. The masses are manipulated by people whose profit lies in the pursuit of war. They will not deceive anyone. Their past exposes them. The ultimate result of their return to power would be death and destruction. It would leave the Middle East in flames. The enemy of the Lebanese people is not Syria but these are the enemies of their own people. For the sake of the God WHO created all of us: Let this not happen again! Ideas, programmes and demands are being articulated that amount to nothing else but ethnic cleansing-- in a context that has nothing yo do with Syrian military presence. Can there be any clearer expression of their true intentions? For the sake of humanity: Let us call upon our brothers and sisters in the Lebanon to prevent that ever again a brother may raise his hand against a brother! Let our legacy not be a curse upon our children! Let common sense prevail and protect this so dearly acquired peace! It is infinitely more fragile and infinitely more precious than those who are swept away by a day's enthusiasm may be ready to believe. O dearest of the dear: Just open your eyes and allow them to see the obvious and you will understand who in reality was behind the murder of Hariri.             We ask God for guidance.

Muhammad A. Al Mahdi