This is me..
I thought of a people that says, Yes & No.
I adjusted what I had thought of because – simply – I
adjusted what I had thought of.
I thought of a people that says, Yes to No.
I thought of the number of victims, orphans, widows,
and thieves.
I thought of letters fleeting from the texts.
I thought of a people leaving its land
with its women and men, camels and dogs.
I thought of that orphan – the government –
It was solely importing clapping
from a concert of a soprano that is singing to the gazelle,
to justice, and to the Christ.
I thought of an eloquent silence.
Life has gone as it has gone.
Life has gone in rushing & in vain.
I’d read a poem to Al-Asha al Kabir in the bar
when wine ran out and the cock and the crow of the city
cried in its night:
“– O, folks!
There is no tomorrow – after now – over there.”

Translation by Ali Znaidi