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

Electronic Thorns

By Reem Allawati
Translated from Arabic by Ghayde Ghraowi
In this poem, the speaker meditates on the soul's journey through eternity after death. 

The soul departing from trees of speech
Does not want to ascend 
Nor to be buried;  
It wants to finish reading. 
..
My heart is a stone that stumbled in the dirt and broke apart 
..
O the mud of the storm, 
heavy, it drags my soul 
From one tavern to another

My hand is a cage that forgot to lock its door
So speech flew away
..
I am made of music 
That departs on an evening jaunt 
To the garden of the unknown 
..
Wherever my sorrow comes to preside
Mud is my door

Outside the blathering cemetery
a lone word was lost 
And began to limp 
..
My garden throne was forlorn; 
peopled with memories 
..
My heart, 
a garden filled with thrones 

The signal was green 
We crossed the road to eternity 
In familiar forms of transportation 
..
In the furor of death
A new tree sprouted 
In fine script
..
Its scent is like infirmity, 
This soul

It was as it must be
I was as I must be
But we did not agree 
..
In a hefty handbag
I abandoned my superstition.  
The soul travels, rising, falling  
From an expensive handbag 
Out leaks my mud
.. 
Who can direct me toward mud that resembles my dust.

 

“Electronic Thorns” © Reem Allawati. By arrangement with the author. Translation © 2019 by Ghayde Ghraowi. All rights reserved.

English Arabic (Original)

The soul departing from trees of speech
Does not want to ascend 
Nor to be buried;  
It wants to finish reading. 
..
My heart is a stone that stumbled in the dirt and broke apart 
..
O the mud of the storm, 
heavy, it drags my soul 
From one tavern to another

My hand is a cage that forgot to lock its door
So speech flew away
..
I am made of music 
That departs on an evening jaunt 
To the garden of the unknown 
..
Wherever my sorrow comes to preside
Mud is my door

Outside the blathering cemetery
a lone word was lost 
And began to limp 
..
My garden throne was forlorn; 
peopled with memories 
..
My heart, 
a garden filled with thrones 

The signal was green 
We crossed the road to eternity 
In familiar forms of transportation 
..
In the furor of death
A new tree sprouted 
In fine script
..
Its scent is like infirmity, 
This soul

It was as it must be
I was as I must be
But we did not agree 
..
In a hefty handbag
I abandoned my superstition.  
The soul travels, rising, falling  
From an expensive handbag 
Out leaks my mud
.. 
Who can direct me toward mud that resembles my dust.

 

“Electronic Thorns” © Reem Allawati. By arrangement with the author. Translation © 2019 by Ghayde Ghraowi. All rights reserved.

2

الروح الخارجة من شجر الكلام

لا ترید الصعود

ولا ترید الدفن

ترید أنُتكمل القراءة

..

!قلبي حجر تعثر بالتراب و تفتت

..

یالطین العاصفة

ثقیل وهو یجر روحي

من حانة لآخرى

..

 

یدي قفص نسي أن یغلق بابه

فطار الكلام

..

أتكّون من الموسیقى

التي تخرج في نزهة لیلیة

إلى حدیقة المجهول

..

حیثما أولى حزني

الطین بابي

..

خارج مقبرة الثرثرة

ضاعت فردة المفردة

وأصبحت عرجاء

..

كان كرسي الحدیقة حزینا

وهو یمتلئ بالذكریات

..

،قلبي

حدیقة ممتلئة بالكراسي

..

 

كانت الإشارة خضراء

قطعنا الطریق إلى الأبدیة

!في مواصلات عامة

..

في هوس الموت

نبتت شجرة جدیدة

تجید الكتابة

..

رائحتها تشبه سن الیأس

هذه الروح

..

كانت كما یجب

كنُت كما یجب

!ولكننا لم نتفق

..

في حقیبة فارهة

تركت خرافتي

تذرع الروح صعودا ، هبوطا

من حقیبة ثمینة

تسرب طیني

..

!من یدلني على طین یشبه ترابي

Read Next

may-2019-no-center-omani-writers-on-identity-farah-al-qasimi-butterfly-garden