Remembering the City

Not an easy day for those who love Egypt, and while it's night both here and there, it's more uncertain than ever what tomorrow will bring.

For now I'll think about Cairo like this, the sun setting on a fine summer evening something like ten years ago.  Whatever happens next, I fear that city is, at least for the moment, something like a dream.  The building there in the center is the much-loved Nile Hilton, long vacant; to its left is the now-burned headquarters of the old National Democratic Party (which, it turned out, was none of those things).

Whatever happens, though, the Nile goes on.  As for the city, well, it's seen days like this before, and much, much worse, and it endures.  Cairo itself means "the Victorious One," and it will triumph over this as it has for thousands of years.