Translated from Arabic by Kareem James Abu-Zeid
Even the Sky
Mountains crumble in my head
and rain-drenched meadows slip away, one
after the other.
Even the sky,
the single sky above all people,
it too—I’m sure they’ve stolen it.
More Restless Than Rage
More restless than two rivers
or a fraudulent autumn
or a sky that seeks a veil
or an earth that wants exposure.
Restless, and I can no longer discern
the prey within me
or the ones pursuing it.
I can no longer see anything
while these two rivers vie with one another
(though they know they have no outlet).
More restless than rage
or thirst
or the unkempt days
that lost their lover.
The Cold
No windows. The sound of air conditioners.
The cold isn’t in the air.
The cold’s within.
In the pillars of history, and in its ten scaffolds
where the historians fell.
Who speaks, and who hears it?
Who remembers, and who forgets?
The streets all look the same
to the stranger in the cold of dawn,
and the trees are nameless.
And history, who is history?
It’s no one, no one at all.
No windows. The sound of air conditioners.
The cold’s in the air.
The cold’s within.
Books Raised on Spears
Who are these assembled nations?
Who are these people
raising holy books on spears,
giving their food and drink to the ages,
enriching the soil
with their bodies surrendered
to nature’s law?
Who’s this woman on the nightmare bus?
She’s been riding it for generations
and still hasn’t reached her stop.
Whenever one of her grandkids falls asleep
they find themselves there,
sitting beside her.
Who are these Kurds?
These Amazighs?
These Armenians?
Rotating names for a blade
with the next one unknown
(the names of victims are endless).
Assembled nations,
books raised on spears.
My people are out there
and I’m too afraid
to open the door.
My Distant Country
How many bedrooms do I need
to get a bit of sleep?
How many chairs
to sit myself down?
How many roads
to walk back to you,
my distant country?
This time I’ve gone
and I’m not coming back.
Your job, now, is to slip out,
lovesick and afraid,
and come in search of me.