Desert Songs: Poetry by Yahia Lababidi- A Review

Desert Songs is a lovely bilingual offering by the artistic collaborators Yahia Lababidi, (poet), Osama Esber (poet and translator) and Zakaria Wakrim (photographer).

Yahia Lababidi, is equal parts poet and mystic, each part complimenting the other. Reading his latest offering- Desert Songs, the reader is transported into the infinity that the desert symbolises. He interprets the phenomenal landscape into exquisite words. His eyes find the tiniest of beings – who reveal their true nature to him as they move across the grains of sand - as easily as they take in the immensity of the mountains.

The voice is clear, and strong and deep. The words are tensile despite their simplicity. The poet speaks first as an observer, standing at the edge of experience. Then he becomes a participant, the lines blurring between him and the object of his gaze. And finally, he becomes one with what he is seeing.

The desert has always appeared endless, harsh, and indifferent to me. Yahia’s words have changed that. They beckon the traveller to explore the beauty that comes from a deep engagement with the desert, even as he himself sits at the precipice of a discovery that we can only wonder about. Solitude, Yahia assures us, is a sacred place.

Desert Songs is a book I will keep within reach all the time- for the words, which reveal something new every time I read them, and for the soulful photos by Zakaria Wakrim and illustrations, which deepen the already powerful words, and offer succour to weary eyes.

I have just one regret- I wish I could read Arabic. For now, I will just take in the exquisite calligraphy, and pretend I can read the words..

(Desert Songs will be available on Amazon from September 2022)