موقع فواصل موقع ثقافي للشاعرة سعدية مفرح
باللغة الإنجليزية
SAADIAH MUFARREH
Translated by Allison Blecker
1
I want nothing more than wings
or my soul to cease yearning for flight.
2
I want to cry out with all my might
without waiting for any question.
3
I want to free myself from everything that keeps my tears
from their deferred goal
or their final dot on the line.
4
I want to sing
without being obliged to compose words,
improvise a tune,
or raise my voice.
5
I want an earth
whose map I can draw
in accordance with the topography of my face,
cleaving its rivers and seas
by way of my tears.
6
I want another earth
I can conceal in my chest
whenever I want to leave the house
without an abaya.
7
I want a tree that sings,
a sparrow that makes a truce with the wind,
a sea that writes its memoirs each dawn,
and a passport that is accepted at all airports. | 142 |
8
I want an umbrella adorned with a carnation,
a book open to the index,
and fingers skilled at tapping on the keyboard.
9
I want nothing more than a comfortable pillow
and dreams whose events unfold
in accordance with scenarios written in advance.
10
I want an old story with a happy ending
to tell to the children
while pointing at pictures of its heroes in the family album.
11
I want nothing more than a simple, beautiful frame
for a primitive picture I drew in graphite
and coloured pencils
to give to a distant friend.
12
I want my room to expand
to contain all my many books
or for a fit of madness to strike me
so I will burn them.
13
I want a sweet memory,
a poetic certainty,
and a new day.
14
I want a sliver of incense
to put on a burning ember
so the perfumed fragrance will spread
while I drink my morning coffee
without giving prior thought
to the rest of the day.
15
I want a new temptation
only for a few days.
16
I want a black and white film
whose heroine I can sing along with;
I imagine myself in her tight pullover
and flowing skirt,
wipe away my tears,
and laugh at her naïveté,
until I justify all of the naiveties of my past.
17
I want a soft song
for a sleepless night.
18
I want a long, full day,
with the smell of the sand and sea,
car exhaust,
and fewer missed calls
on my cell phone.
19
I want a very short day,
enough for writing a poem,
composed as I desire,
leisurely,
unadorned,
and without a draft.| 143 |
20
I want a short night
framed in tranquility,
ending with a death
that concerns no one.
21
I want a long night,
I mean truly long.
22
I want to live
without that being my eternal fate
when alternatives are scarce.
23
Sometimes
I want to die
without having to do so.
24
I want only it.
What is it?
Who is it?
I don’t want an answer in any case.
25
“We are first among the peoples of the world,
or we are in the grave” 1
Yes,
all of the honour is inevitably for this modest man;
let him leave me a grave
with at least one window!
1 These lines are by the 10th-century Arab poet Abu Firas al-Hamdani.| 144 |
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Translated by Allison Blecker for Banipal 43, 2012, from the author’s selected works Mashyatu al-Auza (Walk of the Goose), Arab Scientific Publishers, Beirut, & Dar Masa’a, Kuwait, 2009.
A Taste of Today’s Gulf Literature
Volume 9 | 2016 | Number 2 | Supplement
