The Edge of the World [excerpt]
Adonis
I release the earth and I imprison the skies. I fall down in order to stay faithful to the light, in order to make the world ambiguous, fascinating, changeable, dangerous, in order to announce the steps beyond.
The blood of the gods is still fresh on my clothes. A seagull's scream echoes
through my pages. Let me just pack up my words and leave.
The Fountain
Aïcha Arnaout
translated Cécile Oumhani
When the inscrutable
embraces sluggish time
spreading its invisible light between two suspended shores
rags of screams, a flight of black cloth
spread a hollow vertigo
down the native alley
Sanctuaries in ruins, fathomless crypts,
sepulchres with no remains merge
above a beaded sheet
wrapped around the earth’s flank
The eye of silence peers
and sinks into the snowed-up scene
tears it up like a lightning-blade
digs the earth to the bone
a grave for the wandering woman
Barad
Nizar Qabbani
Barada, oh father of all rivers
Oh, horse that races the days
Be, in our sad history, a prophet
Who receives inspiration from his lord
Millions acknowledge you as an Arab
Prince . . . so pray as an imam
Oh eyes of the gazelle in the desert of Sham
Look down. This is the age of lavender
They have detained you in the pavilions for a long time
We have woven tents from tears
God has witnessed that we have broken no promise
Or secured protection for those we love
The news tonight on link tv from Syria is beyond comprehension. Snipers on the rooftops shooting children. Tanks in residential neighborhoods leveling homes. Armed men going house to house killing entire families.
This is not the first time the world has witnessed such atrocities.
Like father, like son.
Tyrants fall. They always do, but the cost in the interim is too high in human lives and spirit.
Would that the tyrant and his minions fall quickly.
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