Zayn al-‘Ābdīn Fu’ād is one of the leading movement poets of his generation, and some of his best-known poems were part of Sheikh Imam’s repertoire. Fu’ād belongs to the ‘68 generation of radical students, and he is one of the students who occupied Cairo University’s campus during the massive January-February protests against the corruption and ineptitude of the Nasser regime. During his imprisonment, Fu’ād wrote a number of short colloquial Egyptian Arabic poems, which can be found in his diwān, al-Ḥulm fi-l-sijn.
A New Song for February
(2 February 1972)
We are as ever, February!
Called before our time
If you come to see us without an appointment
You’ll find ranks gathered together
Our flags are, as ever,
On our shoulders.
Our voices, as always,
Are rifles,
Are swords.
We wear the blue prison stamps on our shoulders.
We, this year, arrived early.
Our brothers having died on the bridges,
While we, children of the alleys,
Found the alleys running to us.
We’re still as ever, February!
Opening our hearts, embracing life.
We’re singing for war, for our country
For trees, green living things, and homes.
We’re singing for songs, filling the eye
We’re opening our hearts
While the prisons open their doors to us
We are as we always were, February
Waiting for you, for you to come visit
For you to draw our pictures in blood on stone
For you to bring with you all the months, your friends,
Who will see our blood on your soil
And see our freshly planted
As vining hyacinth above your door,
As a new cover on your book.
February—so short, so long,
A piece of us, a page from the book of the Nile!
We are still here, as ever, February…
——
أغنية جديدة إلى فبراير
للشاعر زين العابدين فؤاد
(٢ فبراير ١٩٧٢)
