At the Lowest Point

We present this work in honor of the 20th anniversary of the poet’s death.

Mohammed Dib
Algerian
1920 – 2003

 

go on into the flames
with a clamor of insects
an indiscernible dust
a shape through blazing

with an enigma that makes you
gesture beneath the barren voice
and going on catch fire
immobile on a ridge

take your place for the vigil
and leave at night in a flood
or in blood like an outcry
beyond the reach of words

Translation by Carol Lettieri and Paul Vangelisti

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