Mahmud Darwish (b. 1941)
PSALM THREE
On the day when my words
were earth...
I was a friend to stalks of wheat.
On the day when my words
were wrath
I was a friend to chains.
On the day when my words
were stones
I was a friend to streams.
On the day when my words
were a rebellion
I was a friend to earthquakes.
On the day when my words
were bitter apples
I was a friend to the optimist.
But when my words became
honey...
flies covered
my lips!...
(translated by Ben Bennani)
BACK TO TOP
Abu l-Hasan al-Husri (d. 1095)
MOURNING IN ANDALUSIA
If white is the colour
of mourning in Andalusia,
it is a proper custom.
Look at me,
I dress myself in the white
of white hair
in mourning for youth.
(translated by Emilio Garcia Gomez & Cola Franzen)
BACK TO TOP
Ibn Jakh (11th century)
LEAVE TAKING
On the morning they left
we said goodbye
filled with sadness
for the absence to come.
Inside the palanquins
on the camels' backs
I saw their faces beautiful as moons
behind veils of golden cloth.
Beneath the veils
tears crept like scorpions
over the fragrant roses
of their cheeks.
These scorpions do not harm
the cheek they mark.
They save their sting
for the heart of the sorrowful lover.
(translated by Emilio Garcia Gomez & Cola Franzen)
BACK TO TOP
Yusuf ibn Harun al-Ramadi (d.
1022)
SLAVE BOY
They shaved his head
to clothe him in ugliness
out of jealousy and fear
of his beauty.
They erased the night
and left him in dawn.
(translated by Emilio Garcia Gomez & Cola Franzen)
BACK TO TOP
|
