Seeking Shelter in Gloom
A Window into Contemporary Omani Literature
Published: 03:01 PM,Jan 03,2022 | EDITED : 07:01 PM,Jan 03,2022
The following are translations of poems by the Omani poet Hilal Al Hajri (1968-) from his first collection titled: “Night Is Mine”, (Muscat: 2006):
1-
Al Wasil
My village, Al Wasil ,
Is a Trojan horse
Running without reins to Doomsday.
How could I even catch its tail,
I, the armless, with one foot in the mud
And the other drowned
By the vanity of knowledge?
2-
Abu Nuwas
From temple to tavern
Won't you wait
Till Wodhu on your forehead dries?
Like a tear on the cheek,
Like the coyness dot,
On a virgin forehead
My steps take me towards
It
Without my knowing.
3-
Vanity
Shiny
Juicy
Bodies
Were created for nothing
But to be penetrated by -me-
Through the lightning of my eyes.
Shiny bodies
Arriving and departing
Leaving behind my heart
As sap for other bodies.
4-
Alone
He squeezes cans
Declaring their end
Like a god squeezing souls to their
Doom
And chews his loneliness
In classic fashion
Like a proficient prostitute.
The self-same who once thought
He'd swallowed all the wisdom tablets.
5
Seeking Shelter in Gloom
At the dead of night
I'm the one
Who sinks solo into bed
Like an orphan
Like a spear.
Oh God for anything
To cram my wasteland in
Even were it the size of the navel!
... Oh no my God
More gloom!
No tree
Could shelter me from this flood
Except for my long gloom!
6
Durham
In Durham
Temple of the saints
And postgraduates,
Every night
He returns alone
Proud of his sadness
Rejects a glance
Even to the pavement
Who'd shelter this desert man?
Will he nibble at his fingers
Or take the pillow as his sweetheart?
7-
Surrender
I'll burn out tonight
Very early.
Nothing would seduce me
To wrestle tonight.
Off you go,
You the black giant
How could my little body
Resist your tyranny?
I left you for pimps and adulterers of the night
For spies and intellectuals
For brokers and worshippers
For all your old wrestlers!
I myself
Will leave and kiss
The first star in my village
And nap
Like an orphan child.
1-
Al Wasil
My village, Al Wasil ,
Is a Trojan horse
Running without reins to Doomsday.
How could I even catch its tail,
I, the armless, with one foot in the mud
And the other drowned
By the vanity of knowledge?
2-
Abu Nuwas
From temple to tavern
Won't you wait
Till Wodhu on your forehead dries?
Like a tear on the cheek,
Like the coyness dot,
On a virgin forehead
My steps take me towards
It
Without my knowing.
3-
Vanity
Shiny
Juicy
Bodies
Were created for nothing
But to be penetrated by -me-
Through the lightning of my eyes.
Shiny bodies
Arriving and departing
Leaving behind my heart
As sap for other bodies.
4-
Alone
He squeezes cans
Declaring their end
Like a god squeezing souls to their
Doom
And chews his loneliness
In classic fashion
Like a proficient prostitute.
The self-same who once thought
He'd swallowed all the wisdom tablets.
5
Seeking Shelter in Gloom
At the dead of night
I'm the one
Who sinks solo into bed
Like an orphan
Like a spear.
Oh God for anything
To cram my wasteland in
Even were it the size of the navel!
... Oh no my God
More gloom!
No tree
Could shelter me from this flood
Except for my long gloom!
6
Durham
In Durham
Temple of the saints
And postgraduates,
Every night
He returns alone
Proud of his sadness
Rejects a glance
Even to the pavement
Who'd shelter this desert man?
Will he nibble at his fingers
Or take the pillow as his sweetheart?
7-
Surrender
I'll burn out tonight
Very early.
Nothing would seduce me
To wrestle tonight.
Off you go,
You the black giant
How could my little body
Resist your tyranny?
I left you for pimps and adulterers of the night
For spies and intellectuals
For brokers and worshippers
For all your old wrestlers!
I myself
Will leave and kiss
The first star in my village
And nap
Like an orphan child.