Cairo Policeman

He lounged against sleek metal -

Swept the street with his indifferent gaze - 

We felt the chill of those unblinking eyes - 

Traffic flowed past an opulent hotel - 

Cairo 

February 2025

The feast

Before dark we had our feast -

A vegetable tagine as hot as lava -

Rice as yellow as the sun - 

Bedu camp

One hour's drive from Sharm el Sheikh 

February 2025

Above the emptiness

A thin boy guided our camels across the sand -

We left the bedu camp -

There were barren hills, a single ancient tree -

We wore shemaghs, half masking our faces -

I stroked the coarse pelt of my camel's neck - 

Above the emptiness was the sky -

It was mid afternoon - 

The boy had dark sad eyes -

He turned to look at us, holding out his hand for small coins -

One hour's drive from Sharm el Sheikh 

February 2025

Hani

I'll remember Hani -

This canny scholar - 

His smile - 

His knowledge of the trickery of the streets - 

Of the names of the Pharoahs - 

Of the contents of Canopic Jars -

Of the ways of the Police - 

How he guided us past the wiles of the vendors - 

Bargained with the chief of the camel drivers - 

Showed us the wonders of his city - 

Only asked to be remembered -

Cairo

February 2025

Khufu

His face -

That of a god king -

Like an exquisite jewel, set in silence and light - 

National Museum 

Cairo

February 2025

This narrow doorway

This narrow doorway - 

Beyond it, the stifling  corridor - 

The vast weight of time -

The Great Pyramid

Cairo

February 2025

So many windows

I'd seen them from the sky -

The high rises - 

Now we drove past them - 

These eyries for a gentle people - 

I felt the weight of all their souls - 

Their words were on my tongue -

So many windows -

I could not count them -

Cairo

February 2025

Red Chrevolet driver

A glimpse of a thin brown figure - 

Like a twist of tarry rope in the cab of the Chrevolet -

The crumpled stalk of a cigarette between his lips - 

The steering wheel juddering in his hands - 

Cairo 

February 2025

As though I were flying from Casablanca

I saw the shadow of the propeller on the runway -

It was early morning -

I looked at my visa -

It was as though I were flying from Casablanca -

Sharm el Sheikh Airport

February 2025

Yella, yella

His deft hands steering us -

Ibrahim wearing his sunglasses like a chief of police -

Downtown Cairo -

Seething traffic -

The evening crowd in the pavement cafes -

Night falling -

Black coffee by the side of the road -

Yella, yella -

Cairo

February 2025

A winter's dress

We sip iced coffees -

Walk barefoot on newly raked sand -

I read some pages of The Go Between -

Anne slips off a winter's dress -

Sharm el Sheikh 

February 2025

A slender mast

The sun setting -

Glorious light on the darkening river -

A slender mast touching an ancient sky -

The Nile

Cairo

February 2025

The first morning

The first morning -

My faux panama -

Orange juice after cappuccinos -

Warm sunlight on marble -

Looking out towards the sea -

The wind from the desert in my hair -

Sharm el Sheikh 

February 2025

 

Being mute with wonder

How to recall this moment -

Being mute with wonder -

The flawless sky -

The serenity of that timeless gaze -

The Sphinx

Cairo 

February 2025

Mother of the world

I have a new city of dream and memory -

I saw it from the sky -

Gods had sailed on its river -

Um al-dunya -

Mother of the world -

Cairo from the air

February 2025

Three jewels of memory

Looking into the eyepiece of the telescope - 

There, in the serene depths -

Seeing three planets, our eyes guided by the stargazer -

Three jewels of memory in the desert sky -

February 2025

Near Sharm el Sheik