Translations

[The horizon came, carrying in its hands]

by Adonis

Translated from the Arabic by Kareem James Abu-Zeid

The horizon came, carrying in its hands
a famished gull.
The shores shear off their waves
while migration’s air collects its leaves
and heads back home.

Life is metaphor,
and morning, like evening, has steam
rising from it.
The path my footsteps took to reach it
is dark, so dark.
Is light itself a veil?
I’ll drag the question there, where only delirium
dwells, so it may be worthy
of heaven’s reply.


أدونيس

وصل الأفقُ يحمل بين يديه
.نورسا جائعا
الشواطئُ تجترُّ أمواجَها
وهواءُ الترحّلِ يجمعُ أوراقَه
.ويعود الى بيته

الحياة مجازٌ
والصباح كمثلِ المساءِ بخارٌ
.يتصاعد منه
الصِّراطُ الذي سَلَكَتْه ُخُطايَ اليه
.غامضٌ غامضٌ
أتُراه الضّياءُ حجابٌ؟
سأجرُّ السؤالَ الى حيث لا شيءَ غيرُالهُذاءْ
.كي يكون جديراً بما ستُجيبُ السماءْ

Adonis, described by Edward Said as “the most eloquent spokesman and explorer of Arabic modernity,” was born Ali Ahmed Said Esber in the Syrian village Al-Qassabin in 1930. A perennial candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature, Adonis initiated a revolution in the structures and themes of Arabic poetry. He has received numerous honors, including the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, the Goethe Prize, and the PEN/Nabokov Award. His book Songs of Mihyar the Damascene was published by New Directions Press in 2019.

FROM Volume 70, Number 2

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