O Witch!
O Lady of the meadows of golden spikes and dark olive groves
on the foothills of Atlas Mountains
How you amaze the lining of the azure sky
with the glamour of the Earth
when its flaccid grass
beneath the flames of the sun
turns in your petit fingertips
into braids
of rainbows
and necklaces of emerald, rubies, and pearls!
*****
Ah, turtledove of the Green Land! *
I see the alphabets shimmer through your veins
whispering brooks
of love spittle
pouring in your great sea,
that tyrant whose waves
bubble in your depths
and whose spray, perfumed with musk,
ascends with your breath
to quench the thirst of roses.
*****
O Fairy coming from the Thousand Nights!
who will describe the buds of your passions
as they fly like ghosts
dancing in the heart of the clouds
squabbling with comets
waving to the galaxies
and igniting the heart of the jealous moon?
*****
Ah, shepherdess of deer!
on the banks of Medjerda**
you of whom Ishtar*** is jealous
and Aphrodite
regards your rosy cheeks
with an envious eye
O friend of the nymphs!
O spoiled child of the angels!
O beloved of the Gods
When you hold the lute to your bosom
and your fingertips flirt with its winged strings
my old, wretched heart,
in whose chambers
all the sorrows of the world have settled,
rises up
to dance its awkward dance
like a circus bear.
July 28,2010
(Translated from Arabic by Nizar Sartawi)
————————————————————————–
* The Green Land refers to Tunisia.
** A Tunisian river that springs from Algeria and pours into the Mediterranean Sea
*** Assyrian and Babylonian goddess of fertility, love, war, and sex.
Copyright ©: Nizar Sartawi
End of the poem
15 random poems
- Sonnet 6: Then let not winter’s ragged hand deface by William Shakespeare
- William Cullen Bryant – William Cullen Bryant
- Николай Гумилев – Канцона вторая
- All Saints Day 1868
- The Night
- Владимир Вишневский – Пассажирский поезд
- 1914 IV: The Dead by Rupert Brooke
- To The Honble Commodore Hood on His Pardoning a Deserter by Phillis Wheatley
- Childe Roland To The Dark Tower Came by Robert Browning
- Валерий Брюсов – Il bacio
- Olney Hymn 24: Prayer For Children by William Cowper
- Наум Коржавин – Еще в мальчишеские годы
- Double Ballade Of Primitive Man poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Владимир Маяковский – Дядя ЭМЭСПЭО
- Inscriptions For A Seat In The Groves Of Coleorton by William Wordsworth
Some external links:
Duckduckgo.com – the alternative in the US
Quant.com – a search engine from France, and also an alternative, at least for Europe
Yandex – the Russian search engine (it’s probably the best search engine for image searches).
