Crown Of The Eastern Dawn Poem by Yousif Ibrahim Abubaker Abdalla

Sing, O eternal East, of Kassala the resplendent,
She who stands upon the threshold of dawn,
Where the firmament unseals its gates of fire
And spills its molten diadem upon the waiting earth.
There rise the august brows of Taka Mountains,
Titanic in patience, hewn from the anvils of time;
Their granite countenances neither bow nor break,
But commune in solemn counsel with the ages.
Storms have knelt at their feet;
Empires have faded like breath upon glass;
Yet still they abide, Scriptures of stone inscribed against infinity.
Beneath their vigilant dominion gleams
The hallowed whiteness of Khatmiyya Mosque,
A sanctuary luminous as a pearl in desert vastness.
Its domes ascend like supplicant hands,
Its minarets pierce the amber hush of twilight,
Summoning hearts from dust to devotion,
Binding mortal breath to celestial mercy.
And lo, when the sovereign Gash River descends,
Impetuous, life-laden, thundering from the highlands,
He rends the thirsting plain with silver might,
And Kassala awakens in triumphant bloom.
From austere sands burst orchards of emerald delight;
Mango and palm sway in fragrant allegiance;
Fields shimmer like woven silk beneath the sun's decree.
O city crowned with patience more precious than jewels,
Thy marketplaces resound with living cadence,
Voices braided with barter and blessing,
Coffee rising like incense of fellowship.
Here dwell the steadfast, heirs of ancient honor,
Whose words are tempered steel wrapped in courtesy;
Whose hospitality flows as freely
As the river in its season of abundance.
At dusk, when the horizon blushes in fading flame,
Children pursue the westering sun with laughter bright as bells,
While elders, keepers of memory's sacred flame,
Speak histories deep as hidden wells.
Each courtyard becomes a kingdom of welcome;
Each threshold a covenant of peace.
Thou art no fleeting mirage trembling in desert heat,
No phantom conjured by longing eyes,
But the steadfast heart of the eastern realm,
A diadem of verdure and adamant
Set with sovereign pride upon Sudan's noble brow.
Long shall thy mountains stand inviolate;
Long shall thy river pour its benediction;
Long shall thy domes gleam in steadfast light;
And long shall Kassala endure Majestic, unconquered, eternal in grace.