As the Kmn Kmnbuilds its effect through dramatization, we expect an increase
in agony, leading to expressions of probable martyrdom in love.
My hardship is my martyrdom
The sword of love, my death.
How often have the best of men
This way ended their breath?Repetition accelerates passion, and the surrender to death dramatizes the
recitation and quickens the pace of the Kmn Kmn.
I will not cease from loving you,
Nor unlock what is sealed.
Love is my law and remedy,
Whether hid or revealed.
Blessed my eyes that gazed on you,
O treasured revelation;
This has left me confused, alone,
In helpless adoration.
When the girl finished the poem, her sister let out a loud cry and
moaned, “Oh, oh, oh!” Then she grabbed her dress by the collar and
tore it down to the hem, baring her entire body, and fell down in a
swoon.^56The Kmn Kmnand other nonclassical modes become part of the new Free Verse
Movement, its early experimentation with street songs and singing as art. By
the same token, these modes are the properties of popular poetry, its vernac-
ular variables, and songs. Like the mawwml, the Kmn Kmnis present in abun-
dance in popular poetry, as the Egyptian Fu‘md >addmd’s poetry shows. In
Min Nnr al-Khayml(By the Light of Imagination), for instance, he says in a
poem titled “Kmn Ymmmkmn” (Once Upon a Time):
Once I entered a house in the Azhar Quarter
That was one night when we were children,
I halted; I had not the chance even to look at the walls:
His voice met me before taking my seat in front of him,
He had his seat at the center, on his right was his stick
He was a story-teller telling the tale of the knights.^57Such a start leads to other songs and poetic anecdotes that generally
celebrate or recollect heroic feats or love scenes. Studies of popular poetry
demonstrate how this poetry engages the emotions, passions, and interests of
the populace. It is fair to say that mourning and carnivalesque rituals and
processions interact with this poetry in dynamic ways. Poets need these
POETIC DIALOGIZATION