Venice masks

Monday, 29 March 2021

Urgent Mail - Ali Al Jallawi

He was no more than a courier
On his back a sack of letters
He had a bicycle
A route
And a cap
He was no more than a courier

He returned home exhausted
And sang
He sang alone and solo
He was individual and eternal

He sent all the letters
From himself to no one

He was no more than a courier
A sky, a house
A woman putting the sun in her children’s pocket
He willed, and it was so

Then she decreed
From her hand the sea surged 
From her robe cascaded fields and songs 
 
She decreed
And her children grew in the soil of time

He was no more than a courier
But he developed his craft
The prophets became his letters

Who is knocking on the door?
A girl said to her neighbour:
Beware
Perhaps he is a new Messenger.

Ali Al Jallawi (born 1975) Bahrain
Translated by Ayesha Saldanha

No comments:

Post a Comment

Please keep your comments relevant and free from abusive language. Thank you. Note that comments are moderated so it may be a day or two before your comment is posted - irrelevant or abusive comments will not be published.