BAYYATI AND THE COMMITTED POETS 211God and the radiant sky I The slaves feel their chains
'To-morrow you must build your cities close to erupting Vesuvius.
You must not be satisfied with anything beneadi die stars.
Let violent love and deep joy set your hearts aflame.'
Whoever sells his eagles dies of starvation.
Those who ape men stand at the new crossroads.
One-eyed and confused. (i,157-9).Here we have images such as the 'one-eyed' and those who 'ape men',
which, like dwarves, fly-swatters, spiders' webs, history's rubbish heap and
the green moon, are recurrent motifs in Bayyati's poetry. The poet is not
always able to maintain this strident, loud and Mayakovskyian tone of
voice. At times sorrow and grief dominate, as in 'Camp No. 20', inspired by
the plight of Palestinian refugees.
The optimistic note which the poet strikes at the end of the poem cannot
hide the extent of his impotent fury and overwhelming sense of injury.
Bayyati's next volume of verse, Glory be to Children and the Olive Branch (1956),
opens with a series of poems entitled 'Diary of an Arab in Israel' in which the
poet, committed to the Arab cause, sounds more hopeful: in 'Return', for
instance, he writes:
The night is banished by die lanterns of eyes,
Your eyes, my hungry brethren, scattered beneadi die stars.
And it seemed as if in a dream I had paved your road
With roses and tears,
As if Jesu had returned with you to Galilee,
Without the Cross. (i,297)The Christ theme recurs in many poems, in which the poet thinks of the
suffering, persecution and exile which he endured, in his attempt to deliver
his people from tyranny and despotism and to bring about social justice, in
terms of Christ's passion and crucifixion. For instance, in 'Song to my People',
from the same volume, he writes: 'Here I am alone on the Cross' (i,307).
And in Poems in Exile we find: 1 die that I may give life to others', (i,395ff.).
In 'Spring and Children' he complains that 'they crucify the sun in my city's
public square' (i,370). Bayyati is, in fact, one of the few Arab poets res-
ponsible for propagating the theme of Christ's passion and crucifixion and
making it one of the stock images in contemporary Arabic poetry, especi-
ally that of a revolutionary political character.
Bayyati welcomed the Iraqi Revolution of 1958 in a jubilant poem of un-
surpassed simplicity entitled 'July 14':
In my city the sun is shining,
Bells are ringing to honour the heroes.
Arise, my love, for we are free,