The famous novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez said in his novel, “Love in the Time of Cholera”, “What pains me in death is that I should die in love!” We see many people die every day for different reasons. But not a single one of them dies for the sake of love or even for promoting love on earth!

The language of love has become strange and is not heard anywhere in the world. A study conducted by the British magazine, Nature, pointed out that even female whales are paying little attention to the music of love produced by male whales. As a result, the females are not reproducing and the whale population is dwindling. This is not because the males have stopped producing the special sounds to attract females or showing indifference to them, but because of the din and bustle caused by ships and modern technology which keeps the male music from reaching female ears.

In the East, men are in a different state. They have ceased expressing love for women and have ceased even joking with them. Mahmoud Darwish tells us, “Love passes us by but we don’t care. Neither the love nor we are aware of each other.” How can there be love if there is no place for lovers? Love is disappearing into the darkness like many other things! Because of life’s troubles and tribulations, men have no time to enjoy love. The burdens and pains of the times have weakened their strength and ability to enjoy and experience the love of their women.

On the other hand, the condition of the women is even more severe, painful and pathetic. If we notice a decreasing number of pregnancies among whales as a result of disaffection on the part of females, we see the opposite among women of the East: When love and affection decrease, the number of pregnancies and births increases.

After the departure of Nizar Qabbani, the poet of love and women, and the absence of his poetic recitations, the ears of people, especially women, were overcome by deafness and their hearts filled with woes and worries.

Women’s sentiments have become a stranger with no land or nation. And Qabbani, in his poem, “The Light of Love” echoes women’s exhaustion in the words of the man: “I have no other job except to love you and the day you get rid of me and stop receiving my letters, I will become a man without a job.” Every Arab woman hopes and dreams of hearing such beautiful words.

Men in the East have wasted many things, including skills to win the love and affection of women. For a long time their language has been crippled, their feelings impaired and their spirits old. What remain is only an infected virility and some flesh and blood that is unable to read body language perfectly.

Showing love and affection to women has become a thing of the past. We see it only in ancient books and in our traditions. Women feel that they find nothing in men which calls forth their love and affection and makes them enjoy their lives together.

The harsh dealings of men with women have killed the latter’s desire for dalliance and listening to love songs. Women have begun expressing false love and unreal feelings. Every one of them has become a machine for cooking and procreation, hoping that one or both will make their male counterparts happy and loving. By doing so, the women in the East, have selected to live unfeelingly with their husbands, maintaining the fiction that they have won the hearts of their men and gained their real love by filling their stomachs with food and their houses with children.

(Wajeha Al-Huwaider is a program and evaluation analyst in Aramco. She holds an MA in Reading Management from George Washington University.)