Cairo…

My first encounter with Cairo was last century… in the year 1957… on the train going to Alexandria… It stopped in the Main Station… I stepped out and moved towards her…to meet her…all her brisk elements and images were moving swiftly in all directions…her voices meshed and merged … they were sharp and successive. At that time, Cairo was adjusting … Cairo was deeply engrossed in developing its features… And there I was…standing still…watching …aware of new reasons to be happy… I was fascinated …my heart was enchanted …I was confident there will be another encounter to get close to her… intimately… and again greet her…I would listen to her chanting hymns, reciprocate her love and plunge with her in depth of her history.

Indeed, less than a year later I came back to live with Cairo, share her breaths and…as much as I could, take part in making her glory. I was diligently trying to understand her and follow events and ambitions. I often came so close to her to listen to her heartbeats and understand the reasons behind her sighs…I do not know when did I fall in love with Cairo… but as time went by … I was absolutely by her…she was my love, my friend, my mentor and the reason and the subject of all my emotions and passion. The drumbeats that support me …always come from her heart… I am inspired by the spiritual power surrounding her walls.

In the beginning… L loved to flirt with her and loose my way and myself inside her alleys and suburbs. Today, I want to disclose her secrets and discover her seas… they are my source of inspiration…they suggest the concepts. “Menf” the meanings and symbols. This is Cairo, the flirtatious and glorious city … the extension of the great… Sometimes she trips and stumbles… I often get agitated with her and angry for her… we may disagree… but when and listen to … her whispering to the brown, silver-blue Nile coming “ Kasr El Nil” I return to her…at the banks coming from the South…I know then that the wealth of charm… warmth and spirituality that Cairo possesses are born on these two banks. It is there that peace…love and compassion in their totality meet and converge…

I address my genetic sentiments to this sacred City… Her people might change! …But … her glory and civilization do not. Her spiritual power is perennial and is capable of penetrating the gates of the future.

It is Cairo… my love …The Eternal presence…

Farghali Abdel Hafiz