May Ziadeh’s poetry is evocative and striking. Her poem “The Child and I” is a notable example, and has a particular poignancy. The poem, which first appeared in her collection Darkness and Light 1923 (ظلمات وأشعة), tells the story of a conversation between a small English boy and an Egyptian or Arab woman. The poem was perhaps inspired by May Ziadeh’s thoughts during a real interaction, as it is told in first person. It occurs near the Nile, and we must imagine the encounter occurring at sometime in the 1910s or 1920s, when the British were the colonial power in Egypt. As we shall see, the poem begins with specifics…