May Love Be Praised - Reem Al Lawati

A Poem Written by: Reem Al Lawati

Translation by Issa J. Boullata

Reem Al Lawati is an Omani poet who began to write young at the age of fifteen. Reem wrote under a pseudonym because the themes of her poetry often talked about love, which is considered a taboo in society. Her latest collection of poetry works is Invented Stupidities (2006).

About him:     
  

Praise be to Him who has made love a “fate” for us
                       

Offer your rose before the dream is extinguished
                       

This month is one of God’s months that is beginning
                       

 O strange woman
                       

And the farthest distance from you is alienation

About her: 
                       

Praise be to Him who has made a “fate” for us


of one love meeting another love


and who has made Time more knowledgeable than we are


Two eyes observing the horizon of love’s absence, wondering

will it rise when the sunrise is on the wane

Both singing:
                       

Have mercy on a love that is more
                       

than a woman coming out of a man’s rib
                    

more than a swelling, leaving an emptiness inside her
            

Praise be to you
                  

she is the resurrection of a voice coming from nonbeing
             

after life has flowed into its limbs

She/He: 
                       

Primordial matter of chaos
                       

is what knocked on heaven’s doors
                       

a kiss of intercession pouring out on its palms
                       

when night is more than a long chapter in the novel of time

He: 
                      

Come, I will paint a star on your palm
                       

and the henna of vision on your other palm
                       

Wave to a direction no one knows but you
                       

and no one will tread on but me
                       

Make the dry river in my land gush
                       

There is water here that used to overflow
                       

being a flood of the gods of love

She:
                       

And washing myself in you
                       

is a bridge that God has extended between two hearts
                       

The water was abundant when it met us
                       

so abundant that it was drowned by us

Confidential whisper:
                       

This breath coming out from deep inside, “Aaah
                       

praise be to you. Help, help. Save us from yearning.”

The poem May Love Be Praised talks about love and how God made love a fate for us in which we should experience in our lives. The spiritual love between God and he/she is the most powerful love, which we should nurture. Both he and she are talking about the same thing, but they both interpret it differently. What the poem tells us is that the spiritual love should always overcome the materialistic love.

The first stanza is addressed to her by him urging her to appreciate the love of God. Offer your love to Him before it is too late (love may fade/death). The holy month is the time to get closer and create a strong spiritual connection. “O strange women” he is addressing the love between Him and the beloved that the love between them will further apart and once you forget about Him, He will forget about you.

The Union of love is a destiny made by Him. He knows more about time and what will happen in the future, because he made time so make the most of it while you still can. God waits for his answer searching for the love and wondering if it will ever be as it once were.  Value the love of a women and don’t just consider her a toy to be played with she is an equal and treating her less then that leaves a huge emptiness within her. She is a being that is searching for her identity in the chaos.

The chaos is just the beginning, the start of destruction. The unity and kindness of humanity will slowly distance away when the materialistic love becomes more important than the spiritual love. God is calling for them to come to Him, he will guide you with the stars and give you the bright vision with the henna. He will guide your destiny to a direction no one knows but you and no one will walk on but Him. Make the empty land flourish with the water of love and purity. Bring back what once was a land flowing with the love.  

In the first two stanzas the first line is repeated indicating on the emphasis and effectiveness of the meaning. ‘Fate’ symbolising love is the important theme, the destiny in which love of God is sacred. To "Offer your rose” is to give the you love to God before it fades away and is forgotten. The two eyes watching the horizon are a symbol of the eyes of God, the sun and the moon, waiting to embrace the love.

The palms represent unity and kindness in which God asks us to show to him, and make an end to the dark night of sin that has overcome us and allowed us to forget our maker. The metaphor in stanza five, line two "henna of vision" is the spiritual message and guidance given by God. In stanza five, line five "the dry river in my land"  comparers the emptiness and the absence of the love like a dried river that needs to be filled with purity of water, in this case its love.

In my opinion I think that the poet is pleading the reader to forget about the chaos of the world, remember Him as their saviour and know that if you give him love, you will feel the love back. It is a primitive and a destiny we can’t escape from, if we embrace it we’ll feel the joy of the world and if we refuse it then there will be a cloud of destruction and darkness following us around.

Sources

http://www.blackbird.vcu.edu/v9n2/poetry_gulf/al_lawati_r/love_page.shtml

http://www.blackbird.vcu.edu/v9n2/poetry_gulf/al_lawati_r/index.shtml