I saw a gazelle today wandering alone on the way,
running scared in the desert— the Arabs called her a jinn!
If she could be bought I’d spare a hundred sultanis!
I saw a gazelle today that tormented me, O listeners!
Even though I could spare a hundred that won’t be enough!
As I look into her eyes I feel I have to sing about her
for all beauty is hers— she’s torturing me, O listeners!
I saw a gazelle today that tormented me, O listeners!
All beauty’s gone to her— she with the languid eyes!
The perfect body— which sets my heart ablaze!
Her forehead—a shiny full moon makes me shiver with love!
I saw a gazelle today that tormented me, O listeners!
Eyebrows & eyelashes like swords; jewels hanging down a shiny forehead.
I stared at her all the time feeling crazy about her!
I’ve lost my mind, I’m sure— should you try, you’ll forgive me!
I saw a gazelle today that tormented me, O listeners!
When I keep silent, my friends, I can hear demons inside me!
I hear a string plucked in my head but no one starts singing!
In spite of the oud & wine in the glass I find no one to entertain me!
I saw a gazelle today that tormented me, O listeners!
Fall in love & you’ll see what I had to go through because of this gazelle
I once met on my way & since then she’s driven me crazy!
When I cry no one feels any pity! When I stifle my pain it hurts so much!
I saw a gazelle today that tormented me, O listeners!
What can I do? I need help! No description fits her beauty!
This gazelle is so gorgeous my words can’t describe her!
Her hair’s soft as silk & black as a Sudanese!
I saw a gazelle today that tormented me, O listeners!
Black, yellow, & of all colors! Her eyes do cast a spell!
Her neck’s a fine bough from a ben tree or the stem of a lily!
Her mouth an agate or pure gold set with coral!
I saw a gazelle today that tormented me, O listeners!
When will this fire be quenched O you who understand my poem?
I didn’t know I’d roam the high seas when my pirate took me on that schooner!
I beg the merciful Lord forgive my sins!
I saw a gazelle today that tormented me, O listeners!
Be kind to me, O friends! Look for the bough of the ben tree
the one who lives beyond my reach in the district of Laqran!
She left me with a tormented mind— O Lord, give me patience!
I saw a gazelle today that tormented me, O listeners!

Translation by Abdelfetah Chenni

o dove go to essaouira’s sons
who live in tlemcen
greet them with peace from allah
pray for their glory & light
that they come back the way they’ve left
from the lion gate you’ll take flight o dove
you’ll ask for protection from sidi mogdul patron of the harbor
his news has reached istanbul
take care & be cautious
fly way beyond those rocky heaps and hilly lands
touch with your wings Moulay durayn saint of regraga
glory of our holy land
tomorrow at dawn
you’ll purify yourself when you hear
the first call for prayer

Translation by Abdefetah Chenni

My pain endures and my eyes shed tears every day;
separation causes unbearable pain that has no reason to be!
Her name’s engraved in my burning heart;
I found no cure or counsel for my pain!
My hair’s turning white, O lord, after separation
from those I love and wish to be with again!
Such separation’s made my heart bleed
and tears run down my cheeks all day long!
I miss them so much I’m wasting away in despair;
my tears rage like ocean waves against these sad days!
All this is so unfair I wasted my life
wandering in lands of exile and feeling low!

Translation by Abdelfetah Chenni

Oh Abu Souar! Rub your bird with oil to excite him
and mount a steed that can catch up with mine.
Under me is a thoroughbred that brings tears to my eyes
as he dashes forward into the wind.
No sooner had I let my bird go
than he caught a houbara and a red hare!
I chased them away with tough riders, though,
great hunters that deserve not the slightest blame.
I search the desert, then return home loaded with game.
My turkli and I enjoy wintering in the Sahara.

Translation by Abdelfetah Chenni

We present this work in honor of the poet’s 90th birthday.

This rust inside me
the sun revives.

Obsessional smell
of the wave
on my eye

Terrace
where interminably a
telluric laughter unfurls

Laughter of an Algerian girl
(Jean, look
how the suns commingle
and the praying wave
caresses the stirrups

Fissures — butterfly elytra —
in the acrobat azure

And marrying the sea
—immense—
your wheat field beard

Translation by Pierre Joris

We present this work in honor of the poet’s 80th birthday.

To embrace
the stone
and
reinvent
the tropics
hug
the rock
till it crumbles
redo
the desert
people it
with love
pick up
the stone
turn it
into the
plinth
of a
day.

Translation by Pierre Joris

Hard times,
Sea that hides its secrets,
Harbinger of the visionary.
Cast your pretensions aside
And take your measures.

You, who believed
That in wounding others, you would be saved,
And that misfortune would only come to others,
This time, evil has spared you.
Above all, don’t fool yourself where you shouldn’t.

Reason before unleashing your words:
All questions engender a response.
Never does a claimed right die
When there are men behind it,
Even if it appears farther than sun and moon.

You who evoke only in mocking
The weaknesses of others,
The day will come when yours will be displayed.
You who make evil the reason of life,
Don’t forget that you bathe in absolute shame.

You,
Sedentary without a home,
That riches that surround you will one day go up in smoke.
Very slowly the coming days will diminish your life,
Like wine dismantles reason.

It’s time to leave,
The caravan’s moving, and the horsemen as well,
And you are doing nothing for this voyage,
Too sure, you don’t really know what awaits you,
The days to come will scarcely give you reason.

Translation by Sylvia Mae Gorelick and Miles Joris-Peyrafitte

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