by Isa Al-Azab
Poetry is a death, and verses are its tomb
The poets’ manuscripts are but memories of its doom
The letter is a house that doesn’t shelter its own
Its meter and poverty, its silence leaves us alone
So break the chains of poetry and leave its dwelling
Abandon its gatherings and stages, let it stop selling
And don’t make writing your profession or trade
For the trade of words is not a profitable crusade
For hunger is a collection of a thousand poems or more,
That need a complete death to express what they store.
Translated by
Hatem Al-Shamea
same translator of Assassination
