Selections

Nujoom al-Ghanem (Nujum al-Ghanim)
SHE WHO RESEMBLES HERSELF

SHE WHO RESEMBLES HERSELF

To my aunt who lies on her bed waiting for Him
Her soul roams around the house,
and her voice echoes, also, wherever
her eyes turn.
She moves among the shadows,
between the traces of tales
and the ruins of histories.
Her war against cruelty has not ended
nor has she been freed from the alleys of her nightmares.
She opens her shirt so the winter air
will sting her bosom,
sever her fingers,
shatter her bones.
Her soul is prepared to ascend.
She wants to leave swiftly
and she wants her body
to fall swiftly into coldness,
but he makes her seem like a liar
to herself, chasing her
like a pirate, wanting her to drown
in the ocean of life,
drown without dying.
Despair is her refuge
and before the visitors come
every evening – hoping it will be
her last,
her lips turn white
her dignity fades away.
The spirit, hanging like a fish
on the hook of days,
roams through the house,
the wind shakes it and its top fins fall,
its tail fins fall,
its scales
and its eyes.
It is hanging in time,
dancing with the wind,
and forgetting whether death
has won her
or whether she will remain
being punished by life.

TRANSLATED BY KHALED AL-MASRI
AND ALLISON BLECKER