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Moon Girls of Golden Desert Sing for Secret Love
By Seyid O. SEYID, Mauritanian PhD researcher
“A bright night in the midst of a dark day. In this place of witnessing, which is the
light of manifestation I have much to say, but silence is best” - Mahmoūd
Shabestarī, 14th century Persian Sufi poet.
This is the real story of the pain of love in plain poetic expressions that you never
read in a romantic book or watch in a thrilling movie. It is moving to grasp the
nature of a cultural habit that is vanishing in the face of the technical invasion.
In the happy night of heart light, Arab girls sing for secret love while hiding from
their Mauritanian community’s eyes. It is the ritual of overwhelming love invading
the ultimate sprit without daring to dream of seeing or touching the loved one that
is depriving you from quiet sleeping in a desert of dreadful silence. The nomad girls
and daughters of the moon start their night rhythm by creating their lyrics in open
competition and fan conversation. Meeting in strategic open areas, they choose
their favorite places in valleys, dunes, mountains or in a palm tree oasis. Natural
beauty and nature’s pure elements are the moon girls’ best friends to trust with
their sacred secret. Commencing the natural party, the group star leader sings the

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opening lines for the band members to repeat the song words collectively. In this
exciting moment, they sing, dance, play traditional drums and clap hands with a
lolling sound to the accompanying music. If there is no music, they invent their
own, coming from a mixture of the beauty of the human voice and the whispers of
nature wonders. They make their drums with their rough, tough hands that are
used to serve both family and the entire community during the darkest days of
domestic labor.
Every one of the female circle sitting around the drum has to tell her poem that she
is creating or memorizing from her favorite hearings. Then, she has to sing it as
role distributions go on until the late hours …it could be 22 hours or midnight,
there is no exact date or time in the desert culture. It is an authentic culture of oral
traditions. Generally, there is no writing or reading in the rural communities but
they are highly educated despite being illiterate. The chosen words reveal the secret
of their education pattern. You have to memorize what you are hearing from your
educational sources as writing and documentation are rare luxuries in their
context. Any exception is a confirmation of the general rule in the land of oral
traditions.
Romantically, nostalgic love’s sweetest verses are the favorite repeated themes of
the moon girls who regularly celebrate their brightest night unless a calamity takes
place in their neighborhood. The game rule says it is strictly forbidden to name
your Aden love, even in the circle of your girls’ trusted bands. The name of the
romantic lyrics is another secret to keep for life. Otherwise, the moon poet girls

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could lose their freedom of expression forever. They would be condemned by their
families and communities. Emotionally, the love prince mentioned by indirect
implication should never know that he is praised in the females’ poems of last light.
If he gets such news that his charming, attractive persona is inspiring his
neighborhood girls, he will rapidly change from spontaneous spirit into an
arrogant personality to be avoided for his remaining living days. Singing lyrical
rhythm of the poetic night continues until they get sleepy. The departure indicator
is physical exhaustion. Sleeping in the open white or black tents is the only available
remedy. The tents of the girls are open from all directions but their minds are
closed to community desires of social norms.
Platonic, happy and symbolic codifications are the main characteristics of
Mauritanian female poets. It is shameful in social traditions to be known as a poet
praising her love using her own lyrics. The poem is her psychological release to
express painful emotions when she is waking up late, feeling lonely, suffering from
invisible love or the shock of oblivion in a silent desert. The night female lyrics
should go to the public domain as unidentifiable recitations. The girls are only
allowed to see the images of their secret love prince in the nightly superficial
dreams.
For example, here are some lines of female lyrics that lack the resilient musicality
which is lost in translation from Arabic into English. This fault is mine, not the
female writers. "It is not possible to hate the blue in dry years." “It’s obvious to
love green beauty especially in dry seasons.” The following examples are
simplified to economize on space and reduce redundant explanations:
"Be patient my soul, rejoice in pain"
"I would love you to breathe the breeze"

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"As his teeth are brushed, no army can push me from his smiling lips"
"How to forget him, he is living in my eyes"
"His smile revives even dead bones"
“Unreturned night to remember my secret love baby
"I have to repeat all prayers as I recall my love in my many prayers”
“Mine travelled West, Lord saves all travelers who go West"
"My soul never forgets his words of evening whispers"
The Sufi poet, Mahmoud Shabestari, has written his mystic rhythm in 1311 texts
entitled The Secret Rose Garden. The moon poet girls chanted with golden voices
for free love to come in their secret love universe. The Mauritanian, creative, late-
French pen Habibe Mahfoud, wrote that in his country “time does not advance and
love never returns. If time advances, love will never go away.”
In a word, we are all moons with the darkest character to turn into the brightest
values. As the great American author Mark Twain put it, “Everyone is a moon,
and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody.”