Laughter

Adeeb Kamal Ad-Deen

   The rain has fallen drop by drop

   Wave by wave

   Sea by sea

   Until the sun has risen, dancing in its wonderful light.

   The children have laughed

   And flown through the trees of almond, apple and orange.

   The girls have laughed

   And become conscious of their beautiful rounded breasts.

   The sweethearts who have been smashed by love

   And the screams of the body constrained every night

   Have laughed.

   The sparrows and starlings have laughed

   In the middle of light and smoke.

   The clocks and hospitals have laughed.

   So have the patients, searching for a hope of recovery.

   The policeman and the dictator have laughed.

   So have the explosive-maker

   And the bribed border guards.

   The saints, the amazed, the exiled

   And the semi-dressed women dancers have laughed.

   So have the pupils

   The bankers

   The taxi drivers

   The coolies and the fruit sellers

   The thieves, the detectives

   The genius and the quasi-genius

   So have the effeminate and the passers by.

   Those fond of nudeness

   And of tables of plentiful wine have laughed.

   The murdered and the drowned have laughed

   Then the dead altogether have laughed

   The laughter has increased

   Increased

   Increased

   I alone was reflecting on the scene and crying.

   I alone was reflecting on the scene

   And slowly dying.

      ( T M )

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