Letter #9
5/ 7/1958
Baghdad
My Dear Brother Dr. Suheil (Idris),
A most sincere Arab greeting to
you,
You have, undoubtedly, asked yourself the
reason for my prolonged silence. Like you, I ask myself the same
question.
A whole year has passed, and I have only
written two poems…. Sterility is seeping into my soul. Even when I write, I
write only about this sterility. However, why do your readers need to endure
the bitterness of this sterility of my soul, its barrenness and despair? It is
truly a miracle that I am able to write – to write poetry of course. What
offering can my arid soul impart?
In spite of that, today I am sending you a
poem that contains a glimpse of optimism… it is merely a glimpse. Your
magnificent translation of Camus’ masterpiece, “The Plague,” is a powerful
expression of what I feel. Perhaps the Existentialists are somewhat right –
when I apply their feelings to myself…. Nevertheless, man is a being with a
history and a past. With this past and these roots comes hope… The roots of
the past reach across the bald and dry trunk of the present to the top of the
tree crowned with leaves, flowers and fruit. This is the window that the
Existentialists did not attempt to open: from the past, the future is born
through the present.
You notice in my poem (1) an attempt to
return to the past, to our heritage. I have committed myself to a number of
rhymes after exerting a major effort to liberate myself from multiple rhymes.
As for the Babylonian symbols, I have only used them because of their richness
and meaning. These symbols are still close to us, not only because they
originated in the country where we live today or because the Babylonians were
the cousins of our Arab grandfathers, but because the Arabs themselves have
adopted these symbols.
From Abraham to the appearance of the
great Arab Prophet, the Ka’ba has known all the Babylonian gods. Al-‘Uza is
Astarte, al-Laat is al-Latu, Munat is Munaat and Wod is Tammuz or (Adon =
Assayed) as he was sometimes called. Even the Arabs in the south have known
these gods. Some Arab historians relate that Tammuz saw the people of Huran
mourning him, but they referred to him as Ta’uz. Tammuz was also known in
Yemen by the name of Ti’iz, and one of the cities in Yemen is still called by
this name today. Ti’iz, the male, has a female counterpart known as al-‘Uza. It
sometimes even seems to me that the people of ‘Aad and Thamud were the
worshippers of Tammuz: ‘Aad or Aad – the letter ‘ayn and the hamza are
interchangeable among some Semitic languages. ‘Aad = ‘Aadun who is Aadun: the
master and Thamud is Tammuz.
Islam - the greatest victory achieved by
Arab Nationalism – has come to uproot al-Laat, al-‘Uza, Wud , and many other
idols that the Arabs had previously known. Today, when we use these symbols and
refer to these idols by their Arabic names, we are in a way challenging Islam
and, consequently, Arab Nationalism.
This is what drives us to return to the
ancient origin of these symbols. Consequently, I do not deny that there are
those who use these symbols merely because they are Babylonian (or Phoenician
- in particular – there isn’t anyone among the Iraqis who feels that the
Babylonians are closer to him than the Arabs. There isn’t actually anyone who
feels that there is a bond – other than that of place- between him and the
Babylonians.) In spite of this, there is no stipulation that we must only
employ the symbols and legends that we have a bond with, be it through the
environment, history or religion, while excluding those with which we have no
tie at all. Anyone who goes back to Eliot’s celebrated poem, “The Waste Land,”
learns that he employed Eastern pagan myths in order to express Christian ideas
and Western cultural values.
Badr Shakir al-Sayyab
(1) It is evident that he refers here to his poem, “A Song in the Month of August.” The poet put a note in the margin of this letter from the
beginning of this line and extended it to the end of the letter, instructing Dr. Idris as follows: “It is possible to publish this part of the letter in the
discussion section. Mrs. Salma al-Jayyusi has previously broached the topic of employing Babylonian myths.”
[From the book, al-Sayyab’s Letters, by Majid al-Samurra’i, (Beirut: Al-Mu’assasa al-‘Arabiya li-al-dirasat wa-al-Nashr, Second Edition, 1994, p. 89) Translated from the original Arabic and with an introduction by George Nicolas El-Hage, Ph.D., Columbia University.]
5/ 7/1958
Baghdad
My Dear Brother Dr. Suheil (Idris),
A most sincere Arab greeting to
you,
You have, undoubtedly, asked yourself the
reason for my prolonged silence. Like you, I ask myself the same
question.
A whole year has passed, and I have only
written two poems…. Sterility is seeping into my soul. Even when I write, I
write only about this sterility. However, why do your readers need to endure
the bitterness of this sterility of my soul, its barrenness and despair? It is
truly a miracle that I am able to write – to write poetry of course. What
offering can my arid soul impart?
In spite of that, today I am sending you a
poem that contains a glimpse of optimism… it is merely a glimpse. Your
magnificent translation of Camus’ masterpiece, “The Plague,” is a powerful
expression of what I feel. Perhaps the Existentialists are somewhat right –
when I apply their feelings to myself…. Nevertheless, man is a being with a
history and a past. With this past and these roots comes hope… The roots of
the past reach across the bald and dry trunk of the present to the top of the
tree crowned with leaves, flowers and fruit. This is the window that the
Existentialists did not attempt to open: from the past, the future is born
through the present.
You notice in my poem (1) an attempt to
return to the past, to our heritage. I have committed myself to a number of
rhymes after exerting a major effort to liberate myself from multiple rhymes.
As for the Babylonian symbols, I have only used them because of their richness
and meaning. These symbols are still close to us, not only because they
originated in the country where we live today or because the Babylonians were
the cousins of our Arab grandfathers, but because the Arabs themselves have
adopted these symbols.
From Abraham to the appearance of the
great Arab Prophet, the Ka’ba has known all the Babylonian gods. Al-‘Uza is
Astarte, al-Laat is al-Latu, Munat is Munaat and Wod is Tammuz or (Adon =
Assayed) as he was sometimes called. Even the Arabs in the south have known
these gods. Some Arab historians relate that Tammuz saw the people of Huran
mourning him, but they referred to him as Ta’uz. Tammuz was also known in
Yemen by the name of Ti’iz, and one of the cities in Yemen is still called by
this name today. Ti’iz, the male, has a female counterpart known as al-‘Uza. It
sometimes even seems to me that the people of ‘Aad and Thamud were the
worshippers of Tammuz: ‘Aad or Aad – the letter ‘ayn and the hamza are
interchangeable among some Semitic languages. ‘Aad = ‘Aadun who is Aadun: the
master and Thamud is Tammuz.
Islam - the greatest victory achieved by
Arab Nationalism – has come to uproot al-Laat, al-‘Uza, Wud , and many other
idols that the Arabs had previously known. Today, when we use these symbols and
refer to these idols by their Arabic names, we are in a way challenging Islam
and, consequently, Arab Nationalism.
This is what drives us to return to the
ancient origin of these symbols. Consequently, I do not deny that there are
those who use these symbols merely because they are Babylonian (or Phoenician
- in particular – there isn’t anyone among the Iraqis who feels that the
Babylonians are closer to him than the Arabs. There isn’t actually anyone who
feels that there is a bond – other than that of place- between him and the
Babylonians.) In spite of this, there is no stipulation that we must only
employ the symbols and legends that we have a bond with, be it through the
environment, history or religion, while excluding those with which we have no
tie at all. Anyone who goes back to Eliot’s celebrated poem, “The Waste Land,”
learns that he employed Eastern pagan myths in order to express Christian ideas
and Western cultural values.
Badr Shakir al-Sayyab
(1) It is evident that he refers here to his poem, “A Song in the Month of August.” The poet put a note in the margin of this letter from the
beginning of this line and extended it to the end of the letter, instructing Dr. Idris as follows: “It is possible to publish this part of the letter in the
discussion section. Mrs. Salma al-Jayyusi has previously broached the topic of employing Babylonian myths.”
[From the book, al-Sayyab’s Letters, by Majid al-Samurra’i, (Beirut: Al-Mu’assasa al-‘Arabiya li-al-dirasat wa-al-Nashr, Second Edition, 1994, p. 89) Translated from the original Arabic and with an introduction by George Nicolas El-Hage, Ph.D., Columbia University.]
