Human Nature in Reference to El-Miskery's Poetry The Meaning of Two of her Poems – Just a Word and The Crack

Sheikha A. El-Miskery

I think this is one of the best poets in Africa if not the world. Her poems just talk to you, about you. I think she falls in that category of poets who are just gifted. Have you ever met a fellow human being in a lonely place and you did not even say “hi” or “hello”. This indeed is the nature of a human being. Blacks and Whites may disagree about their races, and males with females in those countries where this is possible. Sometimes we refuse to say “hello” not because we intended but because we were waiting the other person to do so. I have been a victim of that myself. Sometimes we say to ourselves 'I have greeted him for too long, why doesn't he ever start it?' If you even count the number of times you do so you are wrong. Say it if forever. It will never hurt. I wish we could change. I wish I could change the world. Please say “hello” to a fellow human being and you will see how much your life will change. Please read the following poems by Sheikha A. El-Miskery. You might like them:

Just a Word

When dogs encounter

They hesitate,

They sense a kinship

Stop, sniff, then part.

As birds glide they tune

A mutual note,

Beak to beak greetings flare

To form the music of the air.

Even cups in a tray

Make a sound as they touch;

Leaves rustle;

Yet the human voice is hushed.

Strangers silently we passed

Only to look behind:

The other's head has also turned

As if to greet my mind.

This poem touches everybody I have met and read to, except of course a few sadists. Please don't be a sadist.

The first stanza talks about dogs (animals). The persona tells us that when dogs meet they sniff, sense a kinship – they might as well sense with the foxes – and they part.

The second stanza is talking about other animals namely, the birds. That when they fly in the air they sing a common tune, or note; they greet “beak to beak” and that is part of the music of the air.

Stanza three leaves animals and talks about cups in a tray, in the first two lines. When you carry several cups in a tray, they hit against each other and make certain sounds. To the persona, the hitting against each other is not unintentional – that's just how they greet, non-human and non-living as they are. What could be the persona's message? The third line in Stanza three talks about more or less the same thing: that even leaves are not silent. They rustle, and who knows? This might be their way of interaction. Line four of the same stanza tells it all. That compared to all that has been talked about, “the human voice is hushed”.

Stanza four, the persona takes us back to an incident s/he experienced, probably the cause of his sorrow. That they met and did not greet, or grunt to acknowledge the other's presence. They passed silently, though it might be common among strangers, only to look back at each other – as if to greet each other's minds. In other words, both had a guilt about the way they acted and that is the same thing that made them turn back.

The Crack

Crack the glass,

And the crack

Will always remain.

The human heart

Has the same vein;

It's just as delicate

To the strain.

Once it is hurt,

It is too hard

To fade the stain.

Though parts can

Fix together –

You've just to touch the wound,

To make it drain again.

Message: Do not hurt anybody in the hope that you'll be forgiven. No one forgets what hurt him/her. No one. The first three lines tell you that should you ever crack a glass, the crack will remain always. Isn't that the truest thing you ever heard? Why don't you try hitting a piece of glass and see what happens? That crack will be there till kingdom come. We must give El Miskhery credit for such insight. We all can easily “discover” that broken glass never mends. But to put that in poetry so uniquely is not what we do daily.

The fourth line talks about the human heart. Why the human heart? May be it's because the persona wants us to know that here we are only dealing with the human being and not anything that boasts a heart (You might hurt a goat and it does not revenge). “The human heart/ has the same vein . . .” What about the vein? Is it the one that breaks when you compare it to glass? The persona continues “It's just as delicate/ to the strain.” Here we get to understand what the persona really means. That should you pressure/strain/stress that vein that holds/supplies the human heart it will 'crack' - “It's just as delicate to the strain.”

Second stanza. The persona continues talking about the human heart, not the glass. The preposition “it” referring to the immediate noun being the human heart. That once you hurt the human heart, you stain it, a stain that is far too way to fade, no matter how you try. The fourth line in stanza two refer to the glass – you can use superglue to try and fix the glass. The persona continues, should you ever touch that “wound” without care, it will hurt or drain again. The choice of drain is in line with the aforementioned vein.