Zayn al-‘Ābdīn Fu’ād is one of the leading movement poets of his generation. This is of his best-known poems, in no small part because Sheikh Imam turned it into a rousing song. In recent, the band Eskendrella has taken up the song. Fu’ād belongs to the ‘68 generation of radical students, and worked closely with the student movement of the 1970s. During his imprisonment in 1973, Fu’ād wrote a number of short colloquial Egyptian Arabic poems, which can be found in his diwān, al-Ḥulm fi-l-sijn.
“Could Anyone Ever Hold Egypt in a Cell?”
Zayn al-‘Ābidīn Fu’ād
(20 January 1973)
The lovers come together in the Citadel prison
They gather together in Bab al-Khalq jail
The sun is a little song rising from the cells
Egypt, a song streaming from throats
The lovers reunite in their cell
No matter how long they’re imprisoned, no
matter their oppression
No matter how wicked the jailers,
Could anyone ever hold Egypt in a cell?
They meet, their passion fire in the blood
A fire that scorches hunger, tears and distress
A fire that catches with each new arrival
When hands set to work, flesh joins flesh.
While flesh lies scattered in the sands of Sinai.
While falsehoods bind our hands
The enemy’s foot sinks into the flesh of my land,
While the lies post informants at my door.
The informants come out like rabid dogs
Herding the lovers into jail.
No matter how long they’re in prison, no matter their oppression
No matter how shameless their jailers,
Could anyone ever hold Egypt in a cell?
Egypt is the day the sets us free in the public squares
Egypt is weeping, Egypt is song and stone
Egypt is bright stars appearing from prison cells
Rising and planting gardens in our veins.
Egypt is orchards, but who will pluck their fruit?
Egypt is gardens that belong to those that raise its
sword!
No matter how long they’re in prison, no matter their oppression
No matter how immoral their jailors,
Could anyone ever hold Egypt in a cell?