Re: Shishi’s doll…..0704-2k11
explanation…someone asked for it…
Shishi’s doll…..0704-2k11
Shishi is a generic name used to call a younger sister
Shishi and I, just draped our doll,
Giggling, in the shade of a sacred scroll.
Two small girls are playing with dolls, they have studied faith and are taught the value/moral system of their society.
Stood by the well and eyed us long,
in weathered hands a goatherd thong.
Some one was standing and looking at them, near the well…they noticed
He was an old shepherd, with rough hands
Hapless I gaped at the towering palm.
Whispered to me a well known psalm.
Someone, maybe their father came to them, they looked with open mouth at him
And told them they were adults and needed to be married off
Daunted and tender I looked at the fronds,
It mumbled some words and family bonds.
Here the father or uncle is compared to a large and imposing palm tree
He told them it was a religious obligation to get married, and that family marriages are important in the tribal society.
“Kuntee takooleen inni falzat kabadak” hid in a hut,
“Abee wa akhee Al muhaiboon” away from the rut.
This: pl see from the translation given at the end of the poem
“Rut” is an occasion where animals become sexually active and fight for the right to mate with a harem of females.
I shaded my eyes to the blinding glare.
Made out the outline of a gaping snare.
One of the girls is saying she was confused and blinded with this spotlight on her
And she half understood why she was being married, and it looked like a trap to her, she felt like a hunted dear.
And! We tasted the yet half done dates.
Dry and odious, it insipid, grates.
She says that they were married off, they were children and knew nothing about married life, and she is talking of the first night with her husband, by simile, that when u eat half ripe dates they stick in the throat and scrap off the lining….in other words is a painful and unpleasant experience.
Blew the sandstorm, hair in my eyes.
Thundered and raged at desperate sighs.
She continues to explain, in simile, what she experienced…….
I looked around at that; oasis green.
At the aged palms and their sheen.
After wards she is thinking aloud, she looks around, at other women , married women and those that have married them, all the luxuries of life are there, the old men who have married young little brides, appear shiny and wealthy due to material wealth….all this is metaphorical, and allegorical, comparing the surrounding dessert to her life
In the sand, undressed, lay Shishi’s doll,
while she herself, for the grandest mall.
The doll that they were playing with is lying unattended (undressed….says more), grieving that their childhood has been abruptly terminated, while they are dressed in expensive clothes and going shopping to an expensive shopping mall.
Beyond this farce were the sandy dunes.
Some wilted stubs and dried prunes.
She is sad that this life thrust upon her is a lie and make believe, but if she looks farther into the future and compares this life to what would be otherwise, it’s a life of privation and few comforts, it shows her frustration at not having much choice either way, all the time the harsh desert is portrayed as a comparison to her life.
Had dreamt of whispers, incense pure!
For our childish curiosity, a delicate cure!
We wanted to savor our beautiful dunes.
Sheltered in the hush of a tender moon.
she is now talking about how they were curious about sex like all growing up kids…but she never wanted it like that…and how they had a vague and innocent ideal about it in their naïve minds.
sadly …its also true that if a poet has to explain his poetry…then he has failed…!
