My Village
My Village
When I live in the city
I always say what a pity.
When l live on the farm
I always say what a charm.
On the farm, I feel smiling spring.
Green lands, sweet swallows do sing.
In the city, noisy claxons of cars do flare.
Deafening ears, filling me with killing care.
Men, in the city are sophisticated.
With stories so dull and fabricated.
In the village, they are innocent
Honest, humble, true and decent.
Women, in the city, usurp men
With artificial faces and false skin.
In my village, people are meek
Brave, generous and never weak.
They host, they give, waiting no take
The thing they ever do is for god’s sake.
Life, there, gave me strength and zeal
Denying hatred, malice and raw deal.
I feel I am when I am there
Breathing the real pure air .
Among trees, I feel clement clime
Wishing dearly if I could stop time .
Every thing, in the village guides me to God.
The water, the air, the dust and even the mud.
Nothing in the village can destroy
My happiness, my pleasure and my real joy.
Blessed is my village, in it was I born.
My memories are kept in field of corn.
Spreading trees with cool shade and murmuring rose
Refresh me , relieve my nerves ,and help me repose .
There, I feel my mind is so vacant.
‘Cause noise is asleep and distant.
When I am far far away, I feel I don’t belong.
My love for my village, in my heart, is strong.
On its fertile earth so much did I play
With my comrades with its fertile clay.
We built houses and made a scare crow
Around which our true love used to grow.
We ran, we fell. Yet we had no pain.
We built cottages in time of rain.
Our bed was the earth, our cover was the sky.
We used to play tricks that were surely so sly
Our laughs were loud, our thoughts were so clear.
We did great feats that were too much to bear.
There stands childhood, in the meadow, incarnated.
So telling, so expressive, with its luster, so slated.
You aren’t you, someone else you are.
Said my childhood while being too far.
Forgot your village orchard? How oblivious!
City –life changed you? You are credulous.
I am still me , never changed , never tempted .
Bearing sympathy over wings so unlimited .
No, my childhood, I am still pure
I am far far away from city allure.
You are ever kept in my loving heart
In that beautiful, unforgettable part.
By ahmed Mohamed khidr
Teacher of English
Egypt / Tanta / Kotour / Kotour secondary School.
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