We present this work in honor of the poet’s 105th birthday.

 

When I found her crouched under a rock
she was in deep mourning—
“Was it the eagle that struck her,”
I wondered, “or was she scared of the owl?”
But it was the hunters who broke her wings!
When she raised her eyes to look up at me
I saw her swollen eyelids
as she sighed & confided her pain:
“My babies have just flown away into exile!”
Where have they gone?
Injustice leaves a bitter taste in the mouth—
when it strikes it spares no one!
“What’s the use of crying now?” said I
in a consoling tone. “You’re just rekindling
your old pains! Even far away they won’t forget you—
make sure you won’t either,
for you should always remember that
these times of blind oppression
are never to be forgotten!
Someday’ll come when you’ll be happy again—
that day you’ll know your little ones
won’t stand your absence any more!”
“It broke my heart to see them fly away,”
said she—giving a moan! “It’s the fear of the hunters
that made them fly away & disperse into the skies.
I’m scared their exile’ll last forever,
for how could they return?
How I wish I could be more patient!
Will they forget their old mother,
who’d toiled for them all her life?”

Times are hard! Thus our lord has decided!
This is how the world goes round!
Today our fists are tied,
but the little ones’ll soon fly back home
as sure as any pain will not last & must—
someday—come to an end!

Translation by Abdelfetah Chenni