“I write my songs to the sun”
From, Two Gazelles from Home,“Ode to a Burning Homeland”, Two Poems from Sudan by Eiman Abbas El-Nour; first published by Arablit & Arablit Quarterly this month and reproduced here by kind permission of Arablit and the author.
Amidst the horrors of war, the voices of poets, writers and artists urge us to hold fast to our humanity. They offer us insight, compassion and consolation in the darkest of times.
“How can I mend my soul? / What should a girl do / When she cannot swim / And the bridge is blocked?” Above, montage photo of one of the many bridges spanning the River Nile at Khartoum.
Today I reproduce below Eiman Abbas El-Nour’s poem Two Gazelles from Home.
Eiman El-Nour is Associate Professor in English Literature at Neelain University and Ahfad University. She is also Fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge. She specialises in teaching African Literature and her main research themes include African women’s writing, Sudanese literature and Sudanese orality.
Above, The Two Gazelles tea, found on tea and coffee trays everywhere in northern Sudan.
Below, Eiman El-Nour’s preface to her poem.
Ode to a Burning Homeland; Two Poems for Sudan
Two Gazelles from Home
All artwork in this blog by Imogen Thurbon, memories of Khartoum at peace.
Below, an excerpt from Eiman El-Nour’s poem Farewell to Everything Green.
Read the poem in full in
Ode to a Burning Homeland; Two Poems for Sudan
Arablit & Arablit Quarterly is a rich and fascinating resource for anyone interested in Sudanese literature.
Women's literacy in Sudan 