The Ballad of a Bedouin Dame

For my eyes the desert in winter is like a young woman. Pleasant…sleepy mornings… lot of sunlight….sporadic rains… and full of tiny yellow flowers (desert daisies). But in summer, the desert becomes a hell hole. Scorching heat… sand storms….. endless barren land….and the plight of earth becomes like the Bedouin girl whose predicament is to marry an old man.

The seasons cannot change … but … I dream to have a change in the life of the daughters of desert.

Yeteek el afyaa (May god give you courage and strength)!


She is a shy gypsy dame of the desert
In sweet sixteen, fresh from the winter dew
Peeping out from her white tabernacle
With a glittering veil of fog and rain
Glowing sands adorned her anklets
Twilight flashes frilled her apron
She is busy cooking *"K'nafa' in the desert
With lovely daisies and marigolds.


A truck load of soldiers passed by,
Along with mystique rain clouds,
All heading towards *Arifjan.
A handsome soldier gave her a grin.
O’ dear! She can only admire,
Both the soldier and the passing clouds
Her fate is to marry an old man,
Lest the family honor be suffered.


When summer comes, she will be in his harem.
Jailed alone, scorched in his heat.
Sand storms from his *"shisha" will choke her
His embraces will torment her
Her tears would dry, sobs will not be heard
Only the crows’ feet will be seen
From the corners of her black *"'niqab"
The deep carvings of her sufferings.
A thousand camels will eat away the *"K’nafa"
Her sons and brothers would go away.
Where else she would go?
She is the daughter of the desert.
Destined to live and die with the old man.


** Knafa is the typical Arabic sweet with yellow and orange noodles mixed with cheese and a topping of pistachios.
** Arifjan is the American military base in Kuwait.
** Niqab is the face veil used by the Arab women, notably the eyes are only exposed.