THE ANCIENT PEARL DIVER

It was an ancient pearl diver 

Who rose up from the sea

Not pale like other ghosts you know 

But dark as dark could be.

The seaweeds and barnacles 

Clung to his hair and skin

The oysters grew around his waist 

And he seemed to have a fin

That rose all sharp straight from his neck, 

But that turned out to be

A starfish from an old shipwreck 

That had sunk beneath the sea.

But on this moonless night it seemed 

The pearl diver did rise

From beneath the waves that lapped at Hidd 

To claim his rightful prize.

The cargo ships and oil tankers 

Awaiting trucks next day

Didn’t know how they were crushed 

Before the break of day.

No storm-warnings, no weather watch, 

No coastguard saw him come

Save I a scrawny alley cat 

And I, you know am dumb.

And why should I have warned them all, 

For they, that very night

While I was seeking meagre scraps 

Just shooed me out of sight.

So when I saw that eerie wraith 

Rise up out of the sea

His monstrous size, his narrowed eyes, 

I turned and I did flee.

But not before I heard him say 

That he had heard the Nahhaam sing

A well-loved Sanginni 

That called him as if beckoning

Upon the docks and piers of Hidd 

A song of old that sent him not

Out to sea but in to port 

To smash the ships that day.

And if you think that as a cat 

I wouldn’t know these things

Well then I’d ask you, think again, 

Am I a cat or djinn?

Note: In Bahrain and other parts of the Arabian Gulf, Pearl diver singers are referred to in Arabic as nahhaam. Sanginni is one of the eight genres of Fidjeri (pearl divers’ songs) that is sung on the beach not on the boat. Hidd is a major dry dock on the south-eastern extremity of Muharraq Island (Kingdom of Bahrain) whose inhabitants were originally involved in fishing and pearl diving and from where many of Bahrain’s fidjeri performers come.

THE PEARL DIVERS’ SONGS

Their music was so strange and distant

From hymns they sang straight to the sea,

Or praises raised to mighty Allah

Those lovely songs, that fidjeri 

 Above the waves of Bas Ya Bahr

The Nahhaaam raised his melody

Along with him the clappers played

The jahlah or mirwas, plaintively.

Sometimes they sang of home and hearth 

The sea below the sky above,

But as is often true of songs

Most times they sang, of course of love.

The times they sang were once upon

A long, long time before, ago

When life was simpler and the sea

Meant only fish or pearls below.

And then the world all over changed

And like the divers, they did too

Sink beneath these gentle waves

And vanished quite, into the blue.

The Sanginni, the Bahri, Adsani and Haddadi too

Gone indeed, gone from these seas

Hassawi, Zumayya and the Dan,

Mkholfi lost upon the breeze.

The Nahhaams songs of pearls and divers

Tell me please Bahraini friends

Are they truly lost forever?

And is this their sad, sad end? 

Note: Fidjeri is the general term for the Pearl Divers’ songs; the others were particular genres: Sanginni, Bahri, Haddadi, Hasawi, Zumayya, Dan & Mkholfi. The Nahham was the pearl diver.

IN A BAY OFF OLD MUHARRAQ

In a bay off old Muharraq

Lies an ancient wooden Sambuk

That still goes out on moonless nights

Searching for th’ eternal light

And the master of the Sambuk

Who’s the master of that Sambuk?

A ghost, a wraith, a memory 

Singing songs like Fidjeri.

And who is it that sits beside him?

Playing on the double hand drum?

Drumming on the mirwas lightly

While the Sambuk skips so spritely

Across the waves out to the sea

Recalling ancient memory?

Why he too is a distant past

That’s lost forever, lost alas!

And what is it they hope to find

Tossed along by wind and mind?

Why it’s the lulu treasured pearl

‘Durrat’ more prized than any girl.

And so the divers scythe the waves

Seeking what we all so crave

 To bury hatred, soothe the pain

So we can all be one again.

And all who live upon this isle

Wherever he or she may come from

Join together, hug and smile

And truly say, “Salaam alaikum.”

Note: Fidjeri is an old Arabian Gulf/ Khaleeji pearl divers’ song, mirwas is the double-handed drum that pearl divers used on their dhows (like the sambuk) the lulu is the word for pearl in Arabic and Durrat is a particularly highly prized pearl. Muharraq is the second major island of the archipelago that constitutes the Kingdom of Bahrain. The poem is not political but expresses the desire to recreate a more friendly unified time in Bahrain. Salaam alaikum means ‘peace be upon you.’

PEARL DIVERS’ EVENING PRAYER (ADAPTED)

From the depth of the sea

I have risen O Lord,

Twice times ten I went down below.

The date palm peg it held my nose

The weights on the rope, 

They anchored my toes.

We thank you O Creator

That you have made our lives so easy.

We thank you O Creator

For making a generous sea.

Our riches and hopes and prayers

O Lord, they come from you.

Today we bring good tidings

To our neighbours and families.

The sun, the sea and the wind

O Lord, they sting my hands and skin.

But these are like nothing, O Lord

When we see the pearls within.