Skip to main content
Outdated Browser

For the best experience using our website, we recommend upgrading your browser to a newer version or switching to a supported browser.

More Information

Poetry

On Death

By Mazen Maarouf
Translated from Arabic by Kareem James Abu-Zeid & Nathalie Handal

When we die
the words we haven’t said yet
turn to bubbles
to inflate the body
and smuggle it from the grave
while the cemetery keeper sleeps.
But we run up against
the stone slab over our bodies,
which refuses to budge.
So we turn
to the insects for help
though we’re not very fond of them;
a worm here,
another there,

and each one gnaws
at one of these words
and leaves nothing
behind— 

nothing
but erasers piling up
to form a skeleton
that comes home from school
each day
with a piece missing.

© Mazen Maarouf. By arrangement with the author. Translation © 2014 by Kareem James Abu-Zeid and Nathalie Handal. All rights reserved.

English Arabic (Original)

When we die
the words we haven’t said yet
turn to bubbles
to inflate the body
and smuggle it from the grave
while the cemetery keeper sleeps.
But we run up against
the stone slab over our bodies,
which refuses to budge.
So we turn
to the insects for help
though we’re not very fond of them;
a worm here,
another there,

and each one gnaws
at one of these words
and leaves nothing
behind— 

nothing
but erasers piling up
to form a skeleton
that comes home from school
each day
with a piece missing.

© Mazen Maarouf. By arrangement with the author. Translation © 2014 by Kareem James Abu-Zeid and Nathalie Handal. All rights reserved.

عن الموت

حين نموت

الكلمات التي لم نقلها بعد،

تتحوّل إلى فقاعات،

لنفخ الجسد

وتهريبه خارج الحفرة أثناء نوم حارس المقبرة.

لكن اللوح الحجري فوق جثثنا

يصطدم بنا،

رافضاً أن يزيح

لذا

نستعين بحشرات لا نحبّها في الغالب

دودة من هنا

وأخرى من هناك..

كل حشرة تقضم كلمة

من تلك الكلمات..

مخلِّفة وراءها

لا شيء

لا شيء سوى

محَّايات

تتكوَّم قرب بعضها البعض

لتأليف هيكل عظمي يعود من المدرسة كل يوم

ناقصاً قطعة.

 

Read Next

may-2015-samia-halaby-takheel-i