Aden in the mid-19th Century

Aden, Plants, Somalia, Yemen

James Vaughn, a physician stationed in British-controlled Aden in the mid-19th century, published an article in 1853 in the British Pharmaceutical Journal and Transactions (12:226-229,385-388), which is available online. After discussing several medicinal and local exports, such as incense, dragon’s blood, and local dye plants from Yemen and from Somalia, he admonishes his colleagues back in England to do serious study of the botanical wealth of Yemen. I attach his comments below as they are still relevant a century and a half later…

Lament for Yemen

"Arab Spring", Ethics, Poetry, Sanaa, Yemen

Lament for Yemen

Yemen,
your body lies crushed
beneath the rubble that was the home
where you were born
your blood floods the land
breaks the terraced slopes
where sorghum supplied every need
your breath is a raging wind,
a last gasp in the swirling dust
but despite all odds you cling to life
you sing, you dance, you will not be denied.

Sanaa,
your towering buildings bow down
in prayer for the dead
the saila swells with your tears
Bab al-Yemen closes its eyes
blind as dark nights more dense
than locusts devouring all they see
but as the bombs slash the sky
hope shines through the alabaster
carved by your grandfathers’ hardened hands.

Yemen,
your past is like no other
your present is not of your doing
no matter how many bombs fall
how many families mourn
how long the world ignores you.
The smile of one of your children
will outlast all the vain kings in their palaces.
Your future will not be denied.

Daniel Martin Varisco, February, 2022

[Words can no longer describe the suffering inflicted on the people of Yemen; the damage is beyond comprehension, where only poetry can dare to speak.]