Naguib Mahfouz - Midaq Alley (Chapter 12) lyrics

Chapter 12 Drawing on all her reserves of patience and steadfastness, Umm Hussein waited one day and then two. She would stand behind the shutters of the window overlooking the cafe await­ing the young man's arrival and watch him approach with his insolent walk. Then she would see him again at midnight as he left with her hus­ band in the direction of Ghouriya Street. Blind with hatred and rage, she asked herself whether Master Radwan's advice could have been in vain. Again she went to see the master, who shook his head in regret and told her, "Let him be until 'God may accomplish a matter already ordained,"' so she returned to her apartment fuming and uttering dire threats. No longer caring whether people would gloat, she waited at the window until night came and the young man arrived, then wrapped herself in her milaya and stormed out of the apartment like a madwoman, descending the stairs in bounds. In an instant, she was in front of the cafe. The litde shops had closed and the people of the alley had made their way to the cafe as was their nighrly custom. Boss Kersha was poring, half asleep, over the box of tokens and failed to •notice her arrival. Her swiveling gaze coming to rest on the young man, who was sipping tea from a gla** in his hand, she went over to him, pa**ing in front of Boss Kersha, who didn't raise his eyes, and struck the gla** with her hand so that it spilled onto the lap of the young man, who stood up, yelling in fright. In a voice like thunder, she shouted at him, "You're drinking tea, you son of a who*e?" All eyes-those of the people of the alley, who knew her, and of the rest of the patrons, who did not-fastened on the woman. Boss Kersha looked over at her as though wakened by a bucketful of water thrown in his face and he made to rise, but the woman shoved him in the chest, shouting in his face, insensible with rage, "Don't you dare move, you lecher!" Then she turned to the youth and went on, "What are you scared of, my fine lad, my litrle woman in man's clothing? Would you care to tell me what it is that brings you here?" Boss Kersha stood up behind the box, too angry to speak, his face like thunder, but she shouted at him, "If it crosses your mind to defend your little friend, I'll smash your bones in front of everyone," and she rushed at the young man (who had retreated and was now clinging onto Sheikh Darwish) yelling, "You think you can destroy my horne, you miserable little pansy?" ********* The cafe then recovered its accustomed atmosphere, everyone went back to whatever game or conversation had occupied them before, and the battle would have been forgotten and left no trace, had not Boss Kersha burst out once more, crying in a voice of thunder like some wild beast, "No, no! I will not submit to the will of a woman. I am a man. I am free. I can do what I want. Let her leave the house if she wants. Let her wander the streets with the beggars. I am a criminal. I am a cannibal." Unexpectedly, Sheikh Darwish raised his head and said, without turning toward Boss Kersha, "Boss Kf:rsha, your wife is a strong woman. She's got more manliness to her than many a man. So why don't you love her, since she's a male and not a female?" "God cut off your tongue!" cried Boss Kersha, directing his fiery eyes toward him and causing a number of people in the cafe to exclaim, "Even Sheikh Darwish!" Boss Kersha turned his back on the man and said nothing further, but Sheikh Darwish declared, "It is an ancient evil, called in English h*mos**uality, spelled h-o-m-o-s-e-x-u-a-1-i-I:J, but it has nothing to do with love. True love is love for the People of the House. Come, my beloved! Come, 0 Mistress! I am helpless, 0 Mother of the Helpless!"