The head's Loneliness

 

Adeeb Kamal Ad-Deen

 

 

1

In my height,

I heard the sound of days,

The days were as widows dressed in black.

In my paleness,

I heard the guard’s voice

Quarrelling about the spoils of

My boyhood, my youth and my beard’s whiteness.

So, I got confused;

Was copper so cheap to this extent against gold?

2

In my height and paleness,

My eyes were too tired to see

Thus, I started to see through my ears

And perceive through my heart.

It was an absolute loneliness

Loneliness looked just like me,

I was the armless man

Stabbed and confounded by the scene of blood

Dripping heavily as a waterfall.

The scene of blood was frigid and quiet

As a child’s lullaby.

3

In my height and paleness,

I was transported from war to war,

From desert to desert,

From ship to ship,

From confusion to confusion,

From copper to copper.

But gold observed me.

My friends – before my enemies – bowed

In front of the brilliance of gold.

They secretly handed me to Judas

And Judas, before everybody got up

From his restless sleep,

From his bitter greed,

Led me to my exile and hell.

Led me to my long spear.

4

Yah,

My long spear!

All of them bear copper spears

Mine is the longest.

Yah!

How cool my forehead is!

How peaceful my dream is!

How beautiful my birds are!

They follow me from slavery to slavery

From freedom to freedom.

All of them see but they do not understand.

All of them get tortured by the copper spears

That enter their eyes blinded by brilliance.

What cries they had!

What sobs they had!

What disappointments they had!

5

In my height,

In my loneliness, paleness,

And in my great travel,

I heard the sound of everything.

With the eyes, the ears, the heart

I saw everything.

I mocked  the brilliance of gold and copper

The brilliance of guards

The brilliance of days

And  the brilliance of words.

 

( T p )

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