Small poems
Adeeb Kamal Ad-Deen
1
Do not go further
Than the children's table,
Than the lofty joy's table,
Than lofty date-palms,
The duck's singing,
The clay icons and the winds of herbs.
Do not go further than the desert of jealousy,
The blue sleep,
The desert of white lime and the unkempt words.
Do not go further than the body of vision.
2
What is the use of poems
If they do not lead me?
3
“What do I do- the stag said -
If you drink from my pulse?”
The crocodile was silent for a while.
On the stag's cheek
On the river's cheek and flowers'
The crocodile patted smilingly.
Only moments passed
The crocodile devoured the stag.
Only moments passed
The crocodile devoured the river and the flowers.
4
I fear that my black moons will steal me.
I fear that my black moons will leave me
As a dead whale at the coast.
I fear that I fear.
5
Do you remember who named you
Who gave you the frustration and the play?
Do you remember who gave you;
Named you after the play' name?
6
Remind
Once the memory occurs to the mind.
Remind
My memory has gone like the dust of wild storm.
Remind
It has cut the trees of exile
And brought the birds' moaning.
Remind …. Who …?
The memory!
7
My love is papers blown by wind; it is haunted by pleasure.
My love is papers for streets inhabited by strangers
And for streets as lost as estrangement.
My love is papers from black mud.
Papers refuse and migrate, sow or forget.
Papers for the past and desire.
Papers for jealousy and enchantment: white papers!
T M