NAJI 131Naji's extreme form of subjectivity is expressed in his view of literature in
general and poetry in particular in an essay from his collection The Message of
Life. Nature, he says, is a collection of dry data which need to be translated,
interpreted and clothed by man's imagination. It is the poet who 'endows the
mountain, the sky and the desert with movement and vitality and clothes
them with his imagination, bestowing upon them his emotions ... If nature
was beautiful in itself we would need to do no more than reproduce it photo-
graphically.'^53 Unlike Abu Shadi, Naji finds that nature can afford only a
temporary consolation. This attitude is best revealed in his poem 'Thoughts
at Sunset' (p. 41), where clearly the healing power of nature is limited, for
the poet's suffering is specifically human and arises from the nature of the
human condition, the consciousness of his mortality: it is the Pascalian
'thinking reed' syndrome. Because of the poet's sense that nature is neutral his
feeling of isolation and of being an exile in the universe is very much sharp-
ened. In one poem he writes that 'the raging sea listens to no one, heeds no
complaint', and in another he wishes his heart were like 'this earth, unaware
if the houses on it are deserted or occupied; indifferent to what goes on, be
it birth or death' (pp. 127,228). This theme of exile is one of the leitmotives
in Naji's poetry. For instance, in 'The Wounded Bird' he describes himself as
a man who has lived his allotted time 'perplexed and tortured', 'a traveller
without kinsmen', a stranger or an outsider journeying away', and typically
as 'a weary man alone in a storm' (p. 66). His poem The Outsider' is, as the
title suggests, about the exile theme (p. 153) and in 'After Parting' he writes
about himself (p. 197) 'Dragging my solitude behind me in every crowd'.
The only experience that stops (temporarily) the poet's feeling of exile or,
at least comforts him, is love. That is why love occupies such an important
place in Naji's poetry. As is shown in 'The Wine of Contentment' and 'From
N to A' (p. 149), love provides a cure, however momentary, for the poet's
vague metaphysical sorrows (p. 89). In 'The Wounded Bird' the beloved is a
haven for the poet to whom she has given life and a feeling of security. Ac-
cording to Naji those who have not loved "have lived all their lives in vain'
(p. 46), for love is the only meaningful experience in a man's life. It raises
the poet to a higher and nobler existence, which he describes in 'A Journey'
(p. 175) as 'a radiant summit ofinnocence and light', another garden of Eden.
His beloved provides comfort and cure for the deep wound in the poet's
soul, and the bond of love is the only bond the rebellious spirit of the poet
willingly accepts since in the name of justice and humanity he has rejected all
social ties and laws which seem to him to be inspired solely by greed and
hatred, and to be the products of the base elements in man, of his 'clay and
despicable mire'. 'Friday' describes the poet's feeling of loss and restlessness
in the absence of love (albeit in a minor key), while 'The Burning Flute' shows