1. Your eyes returned me to the days that had gone by
They taught me to regret the past and its wounds
That which I experienced before my eyes saw you
What is the wasted life to me?
You are my life whose morning began with your light
How much of my life before you has passed and gone by
My darling, how much of my life has gone
My heart never experienced one bit of joy before you
And had never tasted in this world anything but the
flavor of injury
I’ve now just begun to love my life
I’ve now begun to fear for the passing of my lifetime
Every joy that I longed for before you was fantasy
My heart and mind meet find it in the light of your eyes
Oh life of my heart, oh you who is more precious than my
life
Why didn’t I meet your love, my darling, sooner?
The sweet nights and the desire and the love
For so long my heart carried them for you
Taste love with me
Taste love with love
From the feeling of my heart whose desire extended to
your feeling
Give me your eyes they reflect my eyes in their world
Give me your hands their touch calms my hands
Oh my darling come on forget about that which has
passed us
Oh you who is more precious than my days
Oh you who is sweeter than my dreams
Take me to your longing take me
Pull me away from the universe
Far, far away you and I
From the love that awakens our days
From the desire than sleeps our nights
I’ve reconciled time my days with you
I’ve reconciled time with you
I forgot my pains with you
And I forgot with you my woes
Your eyes called me to the days that have passed
They taught me to regret the past and its wounds
That which I experienced before my eyes saw you
What is the wasted life to me?
You are My Life - “Enta Omri”
By Natascha Lammerts van Bueren
There it was. Suddenly I was facing my
forty-fifth birthday. As if reaching that
age alone isn’t enough reason to shed
a tear or two, I was on top of all that
offered a little box. A cute little black
box rapped up with a white satin bow.
When I opened the box an elegant ring
gazed at me. The ring had a round seal
and contained an Arabic inscription.
Although I remember being happy and
proud of passing my exam in level 1
Arabic years ago, to this day I still do
not comprehend any Arabic sign, let
alone the Arabic alphabet. So yes, I was
indeed most grateful for the little note
hidden inside the box. “Enta Omri”,
the note says, explaining that these
words have the meaning “You are my
life”.
Oeff. I was completely struck by
this overwhelming statement. It’s
so big and huge. These words are so
extremely powerful that you can not
add anything to them. You wouldn’t
want to add anything, I would reckon,
as any addition would sound rather
meaningless.
In Egypt the words “Enta Omri” have
a special meaning. They are, first and
foremost, the title of the classic song
by Oum Kalthoum, the most famous
female singer that the Arabic world has
ever known. “Imagine a singer with the
virtuosity of Ella Fitzgerald, the public
persona of Eleanor Roosevelt
and the audience of Elvis
Presley and you have Oum
Kalthoum” her biographer
Virginia Danielson once wrote.
Oum Kalthoum, the girl who
was, at the age of twelve, pushed
onto the stage by her father after he
had dressed her up as a boy, became
a true legend in- and outside the Arabic
world. When she died on February 3
in 1975, millions of Egyptians were
inconsolable.
Whenever Oum Kalthoum performed,
whenever her songs were heard, the
whole country would come to a stop.
Craftsmen, workers, family of the late
King Farouk and president Nasser
himself, all were huge fans of her deep
voice and of the intensity of emotions
she put into her songs. Most of her songs
were about love, or the tragic loss thereof.
The touching Enta Omri, in which Oum
Kalthoum describes how she only starts
living when she meets the love of her
life, could easily go on for hours during a
live performance. In 2015, she will have
been gone for forty years. Nevertheless
even today her intense songs remain
extremely popular and Cairenes of all
ages still carry Oum Kalthoum in their
head and hearts. It’s hard not to notice
her in daily Cairo. You can come across
her colorful wooden statue, retro style,
in a small café at Khan-el-Khalili market,
where she waves her white handkerchief
at you and invites you to step inside for
a cup of tea. You will see the silhouette
of her face including her characteristic
sunglasses printed in black on a yellow
brick wall in Maadi. You will pass by
her monument when driving through
Zamalek.
Oum Kalthoum inspired Azza Fahmy,
the internationally famous Egyptian
jeweler-designer, to design a ring. A ring
with the inscription “You are my life”. A
ring that carries a heavy burden because
of its symbolism and the history of the
Arab’s world most famous singer, but
that “I now proudly put onto my left
ring finger every morning when I wake
up.
On my birthday last summer, I was
fortunate to be a guest of Azza Fahmy
herself on the Egyptian North coast, in
her romantically decorated house where
pink flowers were blossoming in a lush
garden and the soft Mediterrean breeze
was gently passing by. It was here,
amongst bougainvillea and surrounded
byEgyptianhospitality,thatIopenedthe
little black box and first laid eyes on the
ring. I was blessed and loved. Through
the ring I was, all of a sudden, united
with two amazing women: one of them
a great and celebrated singer that had
once touched the hearts of millions of
people, the other one a famous designer,
which I had come to know in person.
That night, on my birthday, I stepped
out of their long and wide shadows,
just for a brief second. I was all smiles.
My heart was attached to two little feet
and it made a jump. “Here I am, come
and have a look at the present that I
just got”, I told anyone who wanted
to hear it. Just as when you are a little
girl and want the entire world to know
that it is your birthday. It is this happy,
spontaneous behavior that disappears
almost completely once you get older.
But on that night it was back again. All
because of the great Oum Kalthoum
and the sweet Azza Fahmy. Thank you
beautiful, remarkable ladies, for making
my birthday this year so special. For as
long as I live I will remember my forty-
fifth birthday.
You were right, there was someone else
with me that night. Of course I haven’t
forgotten him. How could I? He, who
gave me this beautiful gift. The ring
that I will cherish in the same way as
I cherish our love together. But that’s
something quite personal, so I’ll end
here if you don’t mind.
Natascha Lammerts van Bueren lived
in Cairo with her family from 2011-
2014. She writes for her blog natascha.
familielvb.nl and writes for several Dutch
online websites.
Youare
mylife
Lifestyle
www.livinginegypt.org4 February 15 CSA February 15 CSA 5