IN THE UNITED STATES 193of Black Stone (Umm al-Hij&r al-Siid). One of his most successful poems, in
which he expresses his condemnation of New York life and his nostalgia for
the Lebanon is 'A Fruit Basket' (1920).^39 The poet, unable to sleep at night,
goes for a walk in the streets of New York where the crowds, the bright lights,
the bustle and indifference of people rushing in pursuit of their pleasures
and sophisticated entertainment all make him feel very much of an outsider
and intensify his loneliness. His eye falls on a basket full of grapes, figs and
pomegranates displayed in a grocer's shop, and the sight of these 'oriental'
fruits sends him dreaming of a past of pristine beauty and simplicity in the
part of the world of his own origin. By an unconscious association of figs,
grapes and pomegranates with the Song of Solomon,^40 it seemed to him that
he could hear the Song of Songs and see King Solomon, on his knees humbly
confessing his love to the poor lowly Shulamite shepherdess, the object of
his passion, singing her praises, likening her cheeks to pomegranates and
her breasts to clusters of grapes. Homesick, and longing to be with the people
he loves in the Lebanon, where fruit is plentiful, the poet awakes from his
reverie to find himself standing before the basket of fruit in the shop.
It is clear that here, as elsewhere,^41 the poet obtains his release from the
painful present by means of imagination. But in 'Arida's poetry the world
of imagination has its own validity. Far from being simply a means of escape
from harsh reality it is in fact essentially a superior and richer world. In
'The Nu'ama Wind' (one of the few poems in his collection which express
an experience of joy — an exuberant celebration of the coming of spring),
for instance, he writes, 'Life is richer and dreams are more splendid and
delightful for him who lives by imagination'. At one point he seems to go
as far as saying that the only real world is that of the imagination, while
the world of external reality, 'what the eye can see', is a mere illusion, 'a
mirage in a desert'.^42
In a poem entitled "What the Poet says'^43 'Arida says:
Let my heart dwell with those who lament
The conditions of men in the funeral of life.These very sombre words faithfully reflect the poet's preoccupations. Here
are the titles of some of his poems: 'Drink Alone', 'Sleep and Death', 'Leave
Me Alone', 'The Stricken Mother', 'I have Reached Rock Bottom', 'The Path
of Confusion', 'Do Not Cry, My Soul', 'The End', 'O Stranger'.^44 Some of his
recurrent images are the road, the caravan, the mirage, sunset, darkness and
tombs. The significance of these images is self-evident: hope is nothing but
a mirage and the end is dusty death. His poetry is dominated by a feeling of
loneliness and isolation, of lack of communication and understanding, of