صلاح سليم علي
28/07/2007, 08:56 PM
Nighttime Strings
By Mudhaffar An-Nawwab
At that hour of nighttime lust
The flutter of the golden sparrows of thorns
Clairvoyant of the glories of Arab kings of old
Trees of wilderness breeze warmth of an adolescent Bedouin girl
Where almond milk would fast congeal
Drips from her breasts at night
And me beneath the breasts
A creel
At that hour of the night where things become weeping out and out
I was riding a she-camel immersed by night eternity stars
Facing desert spirit
O, Bedouin veteran in travels
Get hoarded before the Empty Quarter with*1
A droplet of water
How can I steal myself inside this locked cage in the smell of night!?
How can I steal as an almond flower?
In a book of mystic songs!?
How can I steal in there?
Not knowing of
This monstrous torture whose flaming turns
Running aways and fears
Writing with me
Wiping his tears with my heart
In a lapse of nighttime sorrow
O, you bearer of the lantern of the unknown!
In the darkness of your eyes!
Melodies from the language of sadness
O, my spirit… is Arabian
O, bird of the wild
You have taken the doves of my soul at night,
To this universe fountainhead,
Creation was welling out
And sad you been for me
Washing your space in a spirit worn out of mud
For at night they are Sultans
So sleep into every woman
Hide into her from the heat of date palms orchards
O, bird of thunder! I need a woman of warmth
For I am but warmth
Competent body
I competent am
For her to sweat like the keys of paradise*2
Between my hands and sins
And see inside you the rest of my days, of my illusions
O, bird of thunder coming from date palms paradise of my dreams!*3
O, bearer of hazy twilight inspiration of the East
Glowing my days of darkness
Take to my homeland
When people sleep my greetings
To Kufic calligraphy ending the dawn prayer
Under the friezes of her mosques
To her streets
To patience
To Ali making ablution with the sword before dawn*4
Is your prophet Ali
We still make ablution humiliated
And wipe with a rag the sword’s edge
We still seek excuses in (winter) cold and summer heat*5
And still ‛Amr ibn’l-‛Aas’s private parts are seen today*6
Disgracing the world’s visage
Still the Lord’s book hung at Arab spears’ ends,*7
Still the yellow-bearded Abu Sufiyan in the name of Lat provocating*8
Arabic tribal fanaticism
Still the counsel of tradesmen sees in Othman their caliph*9
And you still are a mob leader
If you are to come today,
You will be fought by those who call for you
And would call you
Communism revived anew
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I lust for all the dirty cats in alien homes
For all women in home far away have fishes
Smelling of ice
And my body has worn me out
O, you any woman at night!
Tramped as a dates basket by shoes
Come on!
My body for you
For every woman my body
Here I am an Arab wedge for revolution, O female to my body
For there are those true believers and adulterers all the way through Arab history
Here in my genes I bequeathed
Smiling at those seducing me to saddle
Can a wild horse in the morning be saddled?
A wild horse in whose blood runs
“Yarmook” battle*10
And has his eyes stuck to “Hira”
And rivers fight in my body!?
I would fall in love with a thousand women in a moment
But, at that same moment, I am enamored of the face of one woman
The woman bearing bread and tears in my homeland.
Notes on the poem:
1. The Empty Quarter is the vast sandy desert in southern Arabia known as Al-Rub‛ al-Khali.
2. Keys of Paradise are symbolic keys which Iranian Mullahs used to give their soldiers in the Iraq-Iran war.
3. Bird of Thunder is an ancient Iraqi war symbol recurrent in Assyrian Royal Inscriptions.
4. Reference to the assassination of the Fourth Caliph, Imam Ali which took place after he had performed ablution.
5. Reference to a famous oration by Imam Ali in Kufa in which he admonished Iraqis for dilatoriness in fighting the rebellious faction in Syria: “When I tell you let’s fight, you say wait until cold season is over, when I tell you let’s march, you say wait until the high season of heat is over…”
6. Reference to the war of Camel between Imam Ali and parties in Quraysh led by the Prophet widow ‛A’isha and a fencing encounter between Imam Ali and
‛Amr ibn’l-‛Aas in which the latter’s private parts were revealed for some reason.
7. Reference to the Battle of Siffein between Mu‛awiyyah and Imam Ali in which
latter ordered his army to carry the Qur’an on spears heads to negotiate.
8. Lat is a pre-Islamic deity worshipped by Quraysh in Mecca.
9. Counsel of Tradesmen refers to the first election of the first caliph in Islam,
Believed by the poet to be aristocratic chosen by aristocrats.
10. Reference to the Battle of the same name fought by Yarmook river in Jordan
Between Byzantine Rom and Muslims.
11. Reference to the Iraqi Capital of the buffer State al-Manadhira in southern Iraq.
ت.صلاح سليم علي/كاتب مقيم في النرويج
By Mudhaffar An-Nawwab
At that hour of nighttime lust
The flutter of the golden sparrows of thorns
Clairvoyant of the glories of Arab kings of old
Trees of wilderness breeze warmth of an adolescent Bedouin girl
Where almond milk would fast congeal
Drips from her breasts at night
And me beneath the breasts
A creel
At that hour of the night where things become weeping out and out
I was riding a she-camel immersed by night eternity stars
Facing desert spirit
O, Bedouin veteran in travels
Get hoarded before the Empty Quarter with*1
A droplet of water
How can I steal myself inside this locked cage in the smell of night!?
How can I steal as an almond flower?
In a book of mystic songs!?
How can I steal in there?
Not knowing of
This monstrous torture whose flaming turns
Running aways and fears
Writing with me
Wiping his tears with my heart
In a lapse of nighttime sorrow
O, you bearer of the lantern of the unknown!
In the darkness of your eyes!
Melodies from the language of sadness
O, my spirit… is Arabian
O, bird of the wild
You have taken the doves of my soul at night,
To this universe fountainhead,
Creation was welling out
And sad you been for me
Washing your space in a spirit worn out of mud
For at night they are Sultans
So sleep into every woman
Hide into her from the heat of date palms orchards
O, bird of thunder! I need a woman of warmth
For I am but warmth
Competent body
I competent am
For her to sweat like the keys of paradise*2
Between my hands and sins
And see inside you the rest of my days, of my illusions
O, bird of thunder coming from date palms paradise of my dreams!*3
O, bearer of hazy twilight inspiration of the East
Glowing my days of darkness
Take to my homeland
When people sleep my greetings
To Kufic calligraphy ending the dawn prayer
Under the friezes of her mosques
To her streets
To patience
To Ali making ablution with the sword before dawn*4
Is your prophet Ali
We still make ablution humiliated
And wipe with a rag the sword’s edge
We still seek excuses in (winter) cold and summer heat*5
And still ‛Amr ibn’l-‛Aas’s private parts are seen today*6
Disgracing the world’s visage
Still the Lord’s book hung at Arab spears’ ends,*7
Still the yellow-bearded Abu Sufiyan in the name of Lat provocating*8
Arabic tribal fanaticism
Still the counsel of tradesmen sees in Othman their caliph*9
And you still are a mob leader
If you are to come today,
You will be fought by those who call for you
And would call you
Communism revived anew
--------------------------------
--------------------------------
--------------------------------
--------------------------------
I lust for all the dirty cats in alien homes
For all women in home far away have fishes
Smelling of ice
And my body has worn me out
O, you any woman at night!
Tramped as a dates basket by shoes
Come on!
My body for you
For every woman my body
Here I am an Arab wedge for revolution, O female to my body
For there are those true believers and adulterers all the way through Arab history
Here in my genes I bequeathed
Smiling at those seducing me to saddle
Can a wild horse in the morning be saddled?
A wild horse in whose blood runs
“Yarmook” battle*10
And has his eyes stuck to “Hira”
And rivers fight in my body!?
I would fall in love with a thousand women in a moment
But, at that same moment, I am enamored of the face of one woman
The woman bearing bread and tears in my homeland.
Notes on the poem:
1. The Empty Quarter is the vast sandy desert in southern Arabia known as Al-Rub‛ al-Khali.
2. Keys of Paradise are symbolic keys which Iranian Mullahs used to give their soldiers in the Iraq-Iran war.
3. Bird of Thunder is an ancient Iraqi war symbol recurrent in Assyrian Royal Inscriptions.
4. Reference to the assassination of the Fourth Caliph, Imam Ali which took place after he had performed ablution.
5. Reference to a famous oration by Imam Ali in Kufa in which he admonished Iraqis for dilatoriness in fighting the rebellious faction in Syria: “When I tell you let’s fight, you say wait until cold season is over, when I tell you let’s march, you say wait until the high season of heat is over…”
6. Reference to the war of Camel between Imam Ali and parties in Quraysh led by the Prophet widow ‛A’isha and a fencing encounter between Imam Ali and
‛Amr ibn’l-‛Aas in which the latter’s private parts were revealed for some reason.
7. Reference to the Battle of Siffein between Mu‛awiyyah and Imam Ali in which
latter ordered his army to carry the Qur’an on spears heads to negotiate.
8. Lat is a pre-Islamic deity worshipped by Quraysh in Mecca.
9. Counsel of Tradesmen refers to the first election of the first caliph in Islam,
Believed by the poet to be aristocratic chosen by aristocrats.
10. Reference to the Battle of the same name fought by Yarmook river in Jordan
Between Byzantine Rom and Muslims.
11. Reference to the Iraqi Capital of the buffer State al-Manadhira in southern Iraq.
ت.صلاح سليم علي/كاتب مقيم في النرويج