THE ROMANTICS 140of pity for his people is boundless. In 'God and the Poet' (pp. 87—115) he
poses as the mouthpiece of suffering mankind, regarding it as his duty to
communicate to God humanity's complaint. He begins by expressing doubts
regarding His justice since man has been created by Him imperfect, with
the eternal struggle raging inside him between his soul and his body and
made to inhabit an imperfect world whose nature, despite her enthralling
beauty, is red in tooth and claw (p. 103). Pain is unavoidable and men fall
helpless victims to natural disasters such as the earthquake, the dire effects
of which the poet describes (pp. 108—9). But the poet ends with the affirm-
ation of the positive value of pain as a necessary means of cleansing and
softening the heart, and of the pressing need for all mankind to join in a mov-
ing and humble prayer to the Lord. Throughout the poem the poet's function
as the intermediary between God and suffering man is emphasized. This view
Taha seems to have held all his life, although it must be admitted that in his
later work his affirmation of it sounds somewhat mechanical and lacking
deep conviction. In the long poem 'Spirits and Shades' (p. 434) Hermes de-
scribes the poet as The Child of Heaven', suffering acutely from the conflict
between his body and his soul because of his keen awareness of the beauties of
the spiritual world; he is 'an angel who resents being ruled by his humanity'
(p. 440), he is a visionary because he derives his gift from God.
Just as the birth of a poet is celebrated by the entire universe, so is his
death mourned by the whole of creation. In 'A poet's Grave' (p. 158), an elegy
on the Syro-American Fauzi al-Ma'luf, inspired by a reading of his long poem
'On the Carpet of the Wind', Taha describes the poet's tomb in idyllic terms
which suggest an extraordinary degree of sympathy between nature and the
poet: leafy branches lean over it and wild flowers form a border round it, a
palm tree keeps it company, its leaves rustling in the breeze and making
melancholy sounds, the turtle dove sings a sad song faithful to his memory,
the gentle dawn bestows its loving light upon it and at night the stars sadly
search in vain for their missing brother who chose the earth for his abode.
Nature is a dominant subject in the whole of the collection: there is hardly a
poem which is entirely devoid of some nature description, while there are
many devoted to it, such as 'On the White Rock' (p. 72), 'The Rock at the
Meeting Place' (p. 115), 'The Pole' (p. 126), 'The Lover of Flowers' (p. 155),
To the Sea' (p. 185), and 'In the Village' (p. 203). These descriptions are
rendered in a language of great lyricism and simplicity: for instance, in the
'Lover of Flowers' he says:
Would that I had wings like butterflies
I would then fondly float in the air
Flapping my wings eastwards towards the light