Sunday Poem | “The Earth” — Essam Khalifa portrays a wounded world and the hope of tomorrow
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Tawasul News launches a new weekly cultural series today, taking readers every Sunday through the poetry collection “A Relationship… Fragrant in Its Features” by Egyptian poet and physician Dr. Essam Khalifa. Each edition will present a new selection from the collection, with the original Arabic poetry preserved as written.
Khalifa combines medicine with poetry. A heart surgeon and Egyptian poet, he reached the final of the sixth season of the prestigious Prince of Poets competition, finishing in second place in 2015 after gaining significant recognition from audiences and critics.
The collection takes its name from one of Khalifa's best-known poems, “A Relationship… Fragrant in Its Features,” which he performed during his Prince of Poets journey and later used as the title of his poetry collection published by Saheel Literary Foundation. The title returned to Egypt's cultural scene in 2025 through a poetry-and-music evening at the Cairo Opera House featuring Khalifa's work.
The series begins with “The Earth,” a poem in which the earth takes on the qualities of a living being, carrying humanity's wounds and contradictions while continuing to search through darkness for the promise of another tomorrow.
“The Earth” — Part One
By Essam Khalifa
A land confronts the fate ordained for her,
Bearing what humankind can scarcely endure.
Contradiction writes the news she bears,
While bias dominates every image.
Wounds across her body never cease,
Yet the resolve upon her face will never break.
Now she wears the garment of caution,
Awaiting her long-expected Mahdi.
Each morning she listens to her radio,
Lashed beneath the whips of news.
At night she opens her coffee cup,
Reading every line the traces leave.
A mind has resolved to bring her down,
While a heart is torn apart by her sorrow.
Those who believe are branded unbelievers,
While those who disbelieve speak in religion's name.
The historian stands bewildered describing her,
Then tears apart all that he has written.
Yet through the spreading darkness extends
A beam from eyes that still await.
For a child forever called “My Tomorrow”
Will be born from her distilled despair.
To be continued next Sunday with another selection from “A Relationship… Fragrant in Its Features.”
