The Love Behind My Eyes
Can one die of a broken heart? Ali Chahrour asks this question in «The Love Behind My Eyes», the final of his trilogy about love, which he completed in Beirut in 2021 despite the pandemic and other crises. The dance piece tells of the tragic relationship between two men: Mohamed Ben Daoud, a scholar of Islamic law and Arabic language, fell in love with Mohamed Ben Jamea, a young man from Isfahan. Daoud’s love was unfulfilled. Eventually, they say, he died of a broken heart. «The Love Behind My Eyes» is inspired by love stories from the Arabic world and by the ghazal, an Arabic-Persian form of lyric poetry that goes back to pre¬Islamic times. Shrouded by the lamenting voice of a mourner, the intimate choreography pays homage to forbidden love. The dance embodies sensuality and the art of love. But it also reveals the vulnerability of the protagonists, their pain and their silent protest against the silencing of (love) stories that are deemed illegitimate. (pg)
Song lyrics in English translation
Note: وا حبيبي (here translated as «O My Beloved») is an Arabic religious hymn, traditionally sung on Great Friday to commemorate the Passion and the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The lyrics are meant to be words spoken by his mother Mary.
O my beloved
O my beloved, O my beloved
What a sad state you are in
He who lays eyes on you would cry
You are the one and only Redeemer
O my beloved, what crime have you committed
So that justice punishes
They melted you with wounds
To which no healing would cure
When in the dark orchard at night
The Savior kneeled and prayed
The universe bowed and prayed
To he who gave meaning to prayers
Olive trees were weeping
The lips were begging
O my beloved why will you go
Is all loyalty lost?
O my beloved flow through us
Streams of torrential tears
The fiery heart boiling
The misfortune of a shattered heart
For sins that have grievously hurt you
In a persistent and perpetual way
If only we could spend our long nights
Acknowledging our wrongs with restrained lament
Love brought you to me
And you bared the pillars of the cross
You endured the fatal demise for me
If only I could walk through life
Overwhelmed by a widespread vital flow
Consuming me in obedience to your preaching
Living the mysteries of exalted redemption.
Translated from Arabic by Chadi Aoun