CLAY TABLETS 

1
we threw away
many of our burdens
but have yet
to reach a point 
everything around us
is eavesdropping
on our failure

2
we tear apart
the vision
its traces
stay in our eyes

3
there is no eternal
homeland
we are all
travelers

4
something binds us
. . .
death

5
life is so lucid
but we are
obscure

6
we live
alone
exactly
as we are

7
illusions are countries
our homes
cobwebs

8
the body is arid
the soul
lightening
and thunder

9
in the mirror
we appear intact
with no cracks

10
we know our mistakes
the way a clock knows
its numbers

11
if we cannot convince the grass
to become an orchard
how can we change
our ways?

12
there is no way out
the locks are unknown
and we are shut

13
the ghosts will change
their attire
in a few minutes
to play their real roles
on stage

14
all the rivers
are turned upside down
skeletons lying
on their beds

15
cartoons
that's what we are

16
our eyes
epitomize
blindness

17
we are so tiny
yet no hole
can take us

18
we are alike
dust
and dust

19
neither in light
do we exist
nor in silence

20
we will run
and will never
stop

From the author's collection, Atiaan, Damascus 2003
 
 

DUST

1
perforated bones
eaten
by dirt

2
all the walls
are spineless

3
a disabled fish
in an aquarium
no way out

4
our feet
practice drifting
like indifference

5
the spiders
patch the dust
with their yawns

6
the sky and the earth
are partners
and we are in the middle
picking up boredom
 
 

From the author's collection, Ahzan al-Fusul, Sweden, 1997
Republished here from Banipal No 18. 

Translated by Sinan Antoon