Khartoum

Abstract

30 WLT SUMMER 2021 a POETRY SAMIA HALABY, CENTERS OF ATTRACTION / COURTESY OF THE ARTIST Khartoum by Salma Khadra Jayyusi Innocent when questioned, quick to take flight when afraid, magnet for the heart approaching like a Nazarene lamb You sleep “I do not tire, I do not turn away, I do not intrude” You run off, fleeing from injury, “stretch out, horizon, I am limbs that will not rest” You run off, “my face, a gazelle that migrates my body, a gazelle that dances” You run off, I run off, sink into love, all presence a tent that does not stay put I hoist my home across the horizon, raise my signposts in the wind You give home to the lost, a stranger beyond limit intimate as the body’s vein a level field we ascend toward you, and you do not weary we descend upon you, and you are untouched vast heart, I dove into your spaces to the point of drowning and you are unaware Your stars fold over me the memory of my love who died my love who never dies memory stretches out across my vision I sleep, it gives leaf in dream. I wake, a loved one’s face across each door your twilight, a searching eye we watch how the houses light up with their folks how friends arrive bring life to corners how the ceremonies begin we see how the houses settle down their lanterns raised their children roaming Your night is mute your sun fiercer than any I have known gentle-eyed gazelle your breeze is hotter than drunken fits of grief your full moon the most naked of moons your twilight a cavern I sit at its threshold without moving my gaze on the distance large black eyes cross my path the thoroughbred beckons, and the dark-browed rider Nearby, chattering fountains overflow I do not drink. Then we converse we are without purpose what do you want of me, what do I want? maybe nothing a time will come when I miss the ebony forest for the scorching suns are a legend the trickster morning pure gold Only now the eyes of the evening remain fixed on the porches the valley of silence is ripped by a lover’s call for help, one instant he lives another he dies. Dusk remains a wall a thousand gates lost to their keys gazelle with gentle eyes. Translation from the Arabic By Lena Jayyusi Salma Khadra Jayyusi is a renowned Palestinian poet, critic, and literary historian whose books of poetry and criticism have been published worldwide. She is the founder and director of PROTA for the translation of Arabic literature into English and of East-West Nexus for studies of Arab civilization and its legacies. With forty books to her credit, she has earned numerous awards for her contributions. Lena Jayyusi is a professor emeritus of communication studies and writes on media, memory narratives, language, and visuality. Her translations of Arabic poetry and fiction include the medieval epic folktale The Adventures of Sayf Ben Dhi Yazan (Indiana University Press, 1991). Visit worldlit.org to read additional poems by Jayyusi. ...