Alexandria, My Beloved

About this book

Between nostalgia's flow and pain's ebb.. the tale of a city dwelling in us that we never leave. Have you ever tried having your address be "a poem," and your identity "a jasmine scent" in an old Alexandrian alley? In the book "Alexandria, My Beloved," Adel Abdel-Razek writes no mere verses, but opens his artery for "the sea bride" to pour out with all her din and stillness. The work begins as a dreamy love letter to Alexandria's harbors, to Misr Station where songs are born, and to the tram folding distances between "Smouha" and "Lauran." But the reader soon finds himself sliding from meeting's joy into separation's mystery; where the sea becomes "roaring" and the waves "wounding." This book is no mere poetry collection, but a human journey progressing from marveling at beginnings to tasting disappointment's bitterness. The author asks in every lover's tongue: "Who of us held the decision?" turning streets once a dreams stage into places teeming with memories thrown in corners. It is an invitation to contemplate distance's philosophy.