The Fortune Teller

This is my favourite poem by Nizar Qabbani. I found the English translation. I don’t know how accurate the translation is.. but still a gorgeous poem. I am listening to the song of this poem sung by Abdel Halim Hafiz, “Qare2t el Finjan”. Click to Listen

Oh by the way. For those who don’t know some of the middle eastern culture. When a person drinks Turkish coffee, the remains of the coffee are kind of stained at the bottom and edges of the cup. A fortune teller or someone who knows a great deal about fortune telling or reading the “cup”.. can interpret a person’s fortune from it. For those who never tried it, (I don’t drink Turkish coffee, but my parents do), then look at your cup after you are done and try to interpret what the images or lines can be.

The Furtune Teller
———————
She sat with fear in her eyes
Contemplating the upturned cup
She said “Do not be sad, my son
You are destined to fall in love”
My son, Who sacrifices himself for his beloved,
Is a martyr

*

For long have I studied fortune-telling
But never have I read a cup similar to yours
For long have I studied fortune-telling
But never have I seen sorrows similar to yours
You are predestined to sail forever
Sail-less, on the sea of love
Your life is forever destined
To be a book of tears
And be imprisoned
Between water and fire

*

But despite all its pains,
Despite the sadness
That is with us day and night
Despite the wind
The rainy weather
And the cyclone
It is love, my son
That will be forever the best of fates

*

There is a woman in your life, my son
Her eyes are so beautiful
Glory to God
Her mouth and her laughter
Are full of roses and melodies
And her gypsy and crazy love of life
Travels the world
The woman you love
May be your whole world
But your sky will be rain-filled
Your road blocked, blocked, my son
Your beloved, my son, is sleeping
In a guarded palace
He who approaches her garden wall
Who enters her room
And who proposes to her
Or tries to untie her braids
Will cause her to be lost, my son…lost

*

You will seek her everywhere, my son
You will ask the waves of the sea about her
You will ask the shores of the seas
You will travel the oceans
And your tears will flow like a river
And at the close of your life
You will return one day, my son
Defeated and broken apart inside
And you will then learn after life has passed you
That you have been pursuing only a trace of smoke
You will find that since your beloved
Has no land, no home, no address
How difficult it is, my son
To love a woman
Who has neither land, nor home

My taste of Music