A poem by Bilal Al Masri, translated from Arabic by Dr. Anba Jawi, MBE, and Dr. Mohamad Haj Mohamad
A Story
I
Like smoke dispersing,
words distance themselves
as you and I return to being strangers,
just two characters lost in a long story,
an endless one, whose sad author
is uncertain which way to turn.
II
When you are writing, remember to be gentle
to passers-by within the story. They pass, by chance,
like a woman throws herself beneath a train
or a flower withers in a book.
All of them have souls
which they would gladly sacrifice
to help the story’s heroes survive
and climb the words up to the very end.
III
At the story’s end, the lovers will find their way
and comprehend their unique story.
Let their hearts sing a song of eagerness;
let them touch each other
as a plant reaches for the sun.
It is all right for flowers to wither in a book
or for a woman to throw herself beneath a train—
tortured souls seeking liberation from their bodies.
Only lovers devour each other’s bodies as a
sacrament,
but do not let them bear children;
this world is not a good one.
قصة
(1)
الكلمات تبتعد
مثل دخان حرائق تنطفئ
لنعود أنا وأنت
غريبين
مثل شخصين
ضائعين في رواية طويلة
لا نهاية لها
و الكاتب الحزين
ليس متأكداً من الطريق
الذي عليهما المضى فيه.
(2)
عندما تكتب قصة
كن لطيفا مع الاشخاص العابرين
فيها بالصدفة
مثل إمرأة
ترمي نفسها أمام قطار
أو ورده تذبل
في كتاب
كلاهما تملكان روحاً
تزهق من أجل
أن يحيا
أبطال القصة
الذين يتسلقون الكلمات
حتى النهاية.
(3)
في النهاية
سيجد العشّاق طريقهم
ويألفون قصتهم
الفريدة
دع قلوبهم تخفق
نشيد اللهفة
دعهم يتلامسون
كالنبات أمام الشمس.
لا بأس إن ذبلت
الزهور في كتاب
أو رمت سيدة نفسها
أمام قطار مسرع
الأرواح المعذبة
تنشد التحرر من أجسادها
وحدهم العشاق يتناولون
أجسادهم خبزاً مقدساً
لكن إياك أن
يتناسلوا
فالعالم ليس بخير.
Dr Anba Jawi, MBE — Translator and Editor
Born in Baghdad, Dr Anba Jawi studied geology at the University of Baghdad and was among a generation of pioneering women geologists in Iraq. She later earned her PhD from University College London. She worked in the refugee sector for more than twenty years and was appointed an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in 2004 in recognition of her service. Anba writes and publishes in both Arabic and English. A chapter from her novel The Silver Engraver was included in the TLC Free Reads Anthology in 2019, and two additional chapters were published in a chapbook by Exiled Writers Ink in 2021. Together with Catherine Temma Davidson, she co-translated and co-edited the anthology The Utopians of Tahrir Square, published by Palewell Press in 2022. The two also co-translated and co-edited Adnan Mohsen’s poetry collection Please Don’t Kill All the Poets, published by Palewell Press in 2024.
Dr Mohamad Haj Mohamad — Translator
Dr Mohamad Haj Mohamad is an associate professor and a graduate of Keele University in Staffordshire, England. Born in Syria, he earned his BA in English Literature from the University of Aleppo and his PhD from Keele University in the United Kingdom. His doctoral thesis examined the work of Ezra Pound, the American-born poet associated with early modernism. Dr Haj Mohamad has taught American and English poetry, along with other literary subjects, at universities in Syria and Jordan. In addition to his academic work, he has supervised numerous cultural events, directed plays, organized poetry symposia, and coordinated other faculty activities. His first poetry collection, Shehrezad and Songs of Existence, explores frustration, hope, and beauty. His love of history and art illuminates his poetry and reflects his continuing search for beauty.
