Lines on Wood - Limam Boicha

As I listened to that old and beautiful song
its fine words were baptised by the flames
igniting the bonfire of this poem

An incandescent lighthouse
lit up a solitary boat
guiding it
through the tropics
to the safe haven
of the Caribbean

But I listened to that song
and in the smoke of the bonfire
its poetry
sparked

---

Limam Boicha (born 1972) Western Sahara
Translated by Tom Boll and Sarah Maguire
Source: Poetry Translation Centre