Banipal (UK) Magazine of Modern Arab Literature - Selections - Banipal No 5

Mohammed Bennis
Rose of Dust

1

Shattered places
and the breeze
of dawn wakes up on me

2

My shoulder still in slumber
A cloud bowing
to the flicker of infinity

3

Is it that trees invent their echo
or
has the blind
just dipped his hand
in water

4

The poet closes
his eyes
on a rose
of
dust

5

Scratching my window-pane
the pine tree
lightly shudders
under a snow of ashes

6

Smooth water
From which paleness
did the wind return
and throw another topaz in the river

7

Solitude
could
end with winding paths
intoxication
trips
But whenever I inquire about death
a lady stands against me
impetuous and mute

8
The night barks here
Thumps somewhere
And I am drinking
Hˆlderlin’s wine

9

A shimmer
Then another
Enough for the magician
to make sure
that time is tame
that poetry is a call

10

No one saw me
quietly opening a drawer
to see
where did my self
sneak in

11

My bones have their own biting frost
Is there a name that will go out
before me tonight

12

Clouds upon clouds
flutter
A leap
I almost thought my hand
was made of clouds

13

Play with my poetry’s lock
I say
I’m a lantern
a rug
a snow
a wall

14

Two starts kidnapped my hand
For a second
I watched it
tremble
weep
Am I
or am I

Translated by Anton Shammas

from ‘The Pagan Place’
published by
Toubqal, Casablanca, 1996