One of the major themes in his poetry is his exile, or rather his self-exile. The coup d'etat of 1963 and subsequent events forced hundreds, if not thousands, of Iraqi intellectuals, writers, poets, and artists to seek refuge elsewhere. Today, they are spread out in all five continents. This dispersal of Iraqi intellectuals has been aptly termed the "Iraqi diaspora." The fact that al-Haydari lived almost half of his life in exile affected his poetry in a very significant way. In a poem entitled "Were You my Friend?", he wrote:
In my old-age,
I worry that my eyes
will be closed while in exile,
no land knows me,
exiled except from a bitter silence,
except from the loneliness of a dead man
searching for a tomb
how can I stretch to you my secret?
Translated from the Arabic by Mohammed B. Alwan.
This excerpted poem appeared in an article in Al Jadid Magazine, Vol. 3, No. 17, April 1997.
Copyright © 1997 AL JADID MAGAZINE