From A Man from the Empty Quarter (Beirut 1994) By Saif Al Rahbi (1956- )

Some of the Sultanate’s treasured poems, originally in Arabic, translated by Khalid Mohammed al Balushi (khalidb@squ.edu.om) EXCERPTS (1) (1) Life slyly slips from my hand After I clung on it. I stare at it Turn from the heel of my evening To my first cup To chase her like a huntsman, The start of a galaxy’s birth in my head. (2) I seek shelter From the palm tree of the past, Sneak into the dreams of those sleeping On roofs dazzled by sun and breeze, I inspect my memory’ citizens Like a commander inspecting his troops That ran away from slaughter. (3) The key to abyss is a cup of wine: That’s the life we steal From the wolf’s mouth. (4) Like prayers, stars have their own chapels We saw them in their luminous mihraab, The shooting stars sank in our eyes Like large needles from travelling light We didn’t fathom immortality. (5) An Iraqi Bends to pick up a date In the wind of exile Remembering Iraq’s dates. (6) We’re not stupid, We’re not doves of war, We shall plow this injury Till the last tear in the horizon. (7) Like a churn, The sky verges on explosion, Thunderbolts and hailstones But it doesn’t brighten. (8) The past is before us like Polar islands, Where the ice melts In instalments. (9) We owe nobody, But our bereaved feet owe distances. (10) A kind hand stretches with father-like love Takes us to it While calamities picnic on the pavement. (11) I saw the shooting stars cry On my father’s farm, The storm of clouds and the fainting of orbits.