To the Mother of Jesus
On His birthday I remembered you
I abandoned the crouds and the candles
The lights and the flowers
I left the ringing bells and the singing mass
And I remembered you.
I remembered the day you went to Bethlehem
You and Joseph, strangers in Bethlehem
No face that knows you
No house that shelters you
No place but a stable in Khan
And there you were in labour
You gave birth among the strangeness, loneliness and sadness
And when you made a cradle of the stable
He opened His eyes and you saw in them the glory of the heavens
From where He came.
You forgot the pains of labour and the hardness of loneliness
You forgot the murmuring of the gossipers around you in Nazareth
And you heard the singing of angels in your ears:
May Peace be on Earth
The King of Peace is Born.
Christmas 1972
What is Poetry
It is a marble container which
Contains the secret of life
Those who are taken by its shape and beautyAnd forget what is inside
They miss out on the true meaning and nature of poetry.
The BA and the KA
These are the teachings which I learnt about the soul and body:
The human body is considered the home for the Egyptian 'Ba' and this 'Ba' does not die or vanish with human death, but it transfers to another home. The 'Ba' is responsible for the good and evil doings in a person's life because it is the doer of these things.
There is also the 'Ka' which has nothing to do with a person's actions, but it stays with a person merely as a guide or adviser or a guardian angel or 'conscience'. If the 'Ba' follows the teachings of the 'Ka' and its guidance, it lives in peace and safety. If it disobeys it, then there is misery and deprivation. We can describe the 'Ka' as being the higher soul or the holistic soul or the 'universal soul'. When a person dies, the 'Ka' departs looking for another 'Ba' to guide and accompany in its life journey. Common people call the 'Ka' 'companion' or 'brother' and in Egypt if a person falls, people say "salamat your brother, who is better than you", meaning the 'Ka'.
These teachings do not believe in the resurrection of the body, but in the moving of the 'Ba' from one body or 'home' to another and from one journey to another until the person reaches perfection or the state of 'narvana' as is described by the Budhists.
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What is Poetry
It is a marble container which
Contains the secret of life
Those who are taken by its shape and beauty
And forget what is inside
They miss out on the true meaning and nature of poetry.
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THE FOOD OF MAN
The Sea is our Father that
Gives us Fish
The Earth is our Mother that
Gives us Corn and Fruit
This is the food of man
Boulis Salama 29.1.81