A Prayer to the New Year (2012)

Notes:

Fadwa Tuqan has taken her place as one of the most important poets of the 20^th century and one of the most beloved Arab poets of all time. A legend in her own time, schoolchildren across the Arab world memorized her verse as soon as it was published. She embodied a politically turbulent time and expressions of loss and dispossession became emblematic of much of her poetry. Fadwa Tuqan introduced me to A Prayer to the New Year two years before her death in 2003. The poem has stuck with me for the better part of a decade. It’s one of Tuqan’s most simple, beautiful and lyrical works.

Some of Tuqan’s work can be terribly bitter but in all of the tumult and turmoil, A Prayer to the New Year expresses hope and aspiration with the same defiance and passion as her darkest poems. The work opens with the clamorous sounding of bells that my teta (Arabic for grandmother) described to me as resounding through the air from Jerusalem to Nablus (Tuqan’s hometown) to Bethlehem at Christmas-time and into the New Year. The first song ends with a repeated question of what is to come and hopeful anticipation for the best.

The second song is filled with an excited, exultant sense of the power of love while the third, showcasing the darker mezzo-soprano sound, repeats the plea for love as it hints at the devastation of the surrounding world.

The final song is a prayer to be raised on the wings of angels from the darkest depths to the heights of joy. It answers the questions of the first song with resounding affirmation, piercing light and, above all, defiance in the face of despair.

— Mohammed Fairouz (2012)