Damaged facial skin with marks of badly treated blisters probably from teenage years, scattered hair flickering
on a greasy naked scalp, and clumsy yet slender was the
man. Whether the man was really ugly or not, I can’t
confirm. But I believed my mum. And as a sardonic joke,
he was often called Malek al-Hazïn (مالك الحزين), which
literally translated: sad Malek, and Malek is a given male
name in Arabic. Malek al-Hazïn is also one of the names
given to the heron in Arabic. People tend to believe that
the bird is sad due to its contemplative and calm – partly melancholic – characteristics. The bird is often seen
returning to milieus of marshlands and swamps, staring
at the water even when it’s scarce during dry seasons.
I remember myself asking my mum: “Do you really think
that Malek al-Hazïn, the bird, is really ugly?”