Here I Am They see me with a smiling face, and pleasant, They see my words bleeding, in pain they suffer. The ignorant ones say, “He vacillates,” The lovers say, “He is infatuated.” Some say, “He is arrogant,” While others say, “He is enigmatic, unfathomable.” Yet, none of them know That within me resides a …
Here I Am – Esa Al-Azab – trans. Hatem Al-Shamea Read More »
An Evening of Bliss An evening of bliss, oh how I adore, Where the heartbeat of longing forever soars. For you, I lay a velvet night’s embrace, And the waterfall of stars cascades with grace. My heart unveils the depths of my love, Knocking on sorrow’s door, mindful of the rough. Yet my tongue falters, …
An Evening of Bliss – Entesar Hasan – trans. Hatem Al-Shamea Read More »
Gone, what’s gone And the sidewalk persists To the depths of my heart, bleeding flows I try to remember something of life Something about love on a summer starry night Did I have a homeland and a beloved? Why am I above this sidewalk? I waited and exaggerated in waiting My expectations were surpassed I …
Gone, What’s Gone – Fatima Al-Ashabi. Trans: Hatem Al-Shamea Read More »
Let them bomb, you are not a target let them rage, you are far more enraged Let them mobilize, you know that well The most terrifying are the most fearful *** Richer, but more miserable Weaker, but more brazen Hidden, but more obvious Ashamed, but more distinguished They have iron and fire But they are …
Let Them Bomb – A Poem by Abdullah Al-Baraduni – translated by Hatem Al-Shamea Read More »
In my homeland, tidings of joy unfurled, Awake, O larks, with melodic trill. Flags of glory danced, radiant and bold, Ascending heights, adorned with pottery’s thrill. This September’s balance, a scale of grace, It arrived, heralding blessings untold. Eid graced my land, prosperity embraced, Cities adorned, bathed in luminous gold. Gone, the cloud of distress …
The World Narrowed Around Me Like a coffin closing in, Hope was all that kept my spirit from dying. My friend, should I take my leave from you, What use then would rubies be after parting? Complaint has never been in my nature, God as my witness, silence I will not keep. Yet time crushed …
The World Narrowed Around Me – by Karim Al-Iraqi – translated by Hatem Al-Shamea Read More »
O Lord… Your people have never clung to your rope alone But strayed and leaned on ropes other than yours And those ropes failed them * * * O Lord… Our kings… Our emirs… our leaders… Trampled on consciences, discernment and bonds And above them they spat!! Who was said to be our scholars… oh …
The Decisive Discourse – by Esa Al-Azab and translated by Hatem Al-Shamea Read More »
Alone behind despair… memories gnaw at me until I weaken And my artistic childhood… amazes me… from the heaviness of my afflictions and feebleness For here I am a child without childhood… and sorrow is my nurse and embracer And the vileness of villains frightens them… and I am without vice, without meanness They feared …
By Abdulkareem Al-Ofairi I came from Sheba, reciting my rhyme, Wandering in lovestruck bliss so sublime Inebriated in rapture that makes senses reel As though lost in time’s unmindful wheel I gave her my soul, holding nothing behind For her sake, I think nothing too dear to find I reveled in her beauty for ages …
a poem by Eman Assaeedi illusion, I thought the poem was an impenetrable wall that would not be held by the gloom of the loin. And that war will not reproduce in a cradle of an arc of joy. And that the grass is the extension of spring, whose door the hand of the wind …
by Isa Al-Azab Poetry is a death, and verses are its tombThe poets’ manuscripts are but memories of its doom The letter is a house that doesn’t shelter its ownIts meter and poverty, its silence leaves us alone So break the chains of poetry and leave its dwellingAbandon its gatherings and stages, let it stop …
