Afrasianet - Anas Hajras - Do you know what it feels like when you are in a theater to attend an evening of a free and honest revolutionary poet.. and with the last verse of his national poem.. you stand clapping and shouting God is the most beautiful to you!

This was my reaction as I read the last pages until I reached the last line!

The strange thing is that it came at the right time.. it came with my head full of terms that I used that I had written two days ago and did not publish!
Zakaria Shahin.. Thank you!

And the return is coming and the gun is the stick of wisdom without which there will be no return! Among the most beautiful things mentioned in the novel:

Looking towards the mountain, he saw a tall, bright-faced young man, ascending from the foot of the mountain, on a drawn path towards the summit, and when he came near the middle of the mountain in his ascent, facing a cave in the distance, he stopped there, and with a woman of tall stature, with a bright face and eyes, emerging to him from the mouth of the cave... The young man was surprised by the woman, but he held himself and bent down to lean on his left knee, while his right knee remained upright, and his body bent in front of the woman, the young man said: 
"What ‫a curse... I didn't expect you here.

The woman touched his hair falling on his shoulders and said in an angelic voice: 

"Yes, ‫Canaan." My son, (Get up and don't get tired of the march...)

I want ‫the top..

You will get it, and then you will come to you in the plain and the valley and the crowds.

And how can I achieve that?

Ana picked up a piece of iron, which was lying on the ground, and said:(You have to make your sword with your hands."

Teach me!

Take this piece, and when you reach the top, place it against ‫the sun, and when the glow hits it, knock it against the rock of the mountain, and then you have your sword.

He was looking at the piece of iron when he raised his head but did not find the woman, she hid inside the cave, while a spring flowed near the crater, Canaan washed his face with water, and then he climbed again ‫ , he was climbing as if he were walking over a flat plain, despite the obstacles and mountain outcrops, but he was traversing it quickly, and when he reached the top, he turned his head towards ‫the east, he raised the piece of iron with his hands, it took its glare from the sun until it became red, Shaheen flew close to him, made two rounds, and then landed near him on a rock Standing out above a huge bump, he took a rock and started hammering on the piece of iron, he kept knocking on it until it turned into a polished sword, he turned the piece from underneath it, then lifted it back towards the sun, he retrieved the gold threads, and when he reddened the bottom of the piece, he inserted it with a cavity in the rock, and tilted it several times until it formed the handle of a real sword, he looked at what he made, he was happy.

He said:

What a ‫sword

He descended again towards the foot, and when he approached the cave, the woman appeared to him again, he knelt down while holding ‫the sword, Anna said:

O Canaan, go with your sword to the valley where the bridesmaids live, water your sword with olive oil and your mother's milk, and then, it will become a sword that will lead you in the first danger towards your next date.

Then it disappeared again.

He went down the mountain again, there was a hut nearby, his mother was combing her braids on the stream as if she were picking stars, he said, "
Oh mother, I want milk to water my sword with...

That is, Canaan, it is ‫the sweat  that pours from you, theviolence that you endured, and the firmness of the doctrine in your breast, go to the runners-up..

And did you know?

I was waiting, don't forget to get back to me...

Canaan moved towards the girls who suddenly stood up on the edge of the valley, they were carrying jars of olive oil, they poured it into a pot that began to boil due to the fire that was kindled under it, Canaan reached there, raised his sword and retrieved the threads of the sun, and when the redness settled in the sword, he dropped it in the olive oil, the peregrine was watching the place, and when the sword touched the olive oil, a gray vapor came out, formed in the shape ‫of a phoenix bird and then headed towards the east, followed by the peregrine, who was shouting ‫for joy Drops of sweat were falling on the sword from Canaan's forehead, and when he was finished, he bowed towards the bridesmaids and then turned around heading towards his mother, who was holding in her hands a sheath for the sword made ofbraids. She said:

 
"It is one of your mother's braids."

He put the sword in the sheath, he saw it as if it was made for him perfectly, he kissed his mother on her forehead, he saw a tear descending on her cheek.. He wiped it with his hands, she said: 

O Canaan: go ahead and do not tire the journey, your descendants will never perish until creation is destroyed, he looked at her again, she raised her head towards the mountain cave, he looked at where his mother raised her head, Ana was standing there, while he put the falcon on her arm.

He rubbed his eyes, opened them again, everything was gone, he leaned on his stick, he watched the footprints of the departed, he went behind the convoy, and when he went a little farther away, he saw dust rising in the distance, the dust was advancing towards him, he urged the steps, and when he reached the place of the dust, he saw Walida, Al-Shafi, Abd al-Rahman, and the young men of the oasis, Al-Rashidi was there too, Al-Asaad as well, carrying guns on their shoulders and behind them large crowds seeking ‫the land and ‫ the homeland...

One of the young men reached where Rajeh was standing, he was holding ‫a rifle in one hand, while the other hand was pulling a tall horse walking with pride, he handed the horse the leash to Rajeh, handed him the  rifle, Rajeh looked at what he was carrying, he cried out in tears!

It is ‫the stick of wisdom...

Zakaria Shahin ended his novel with this line:

These pages may be complete, but the cold distances are not over yet!! ‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

Cold Distances: A Novel by Zakaria Shahin Published by Fadaat Publishing and Distribution House - Amman - Jordan