We’ll go with you wherever you may go.
Our palm trees blossom from your secret springs.
Your face redeems us.
When Nowhere’s left for you we’ll take your place.
You will always be us
when nowhere’s left to go.
The flower cranes its neck upon your door.
Arrogance avoids your path.
Nights frolic, their stars bright as suns.
The Pleiades usher in the dawn
where young girls weave green fields for that which is to come,
where grains of wheat melt into what the pigeons dream
who coo their songs for those close by, and those away,
their tune a bread infused with generosity.
Their graceful chorus sings beneath the archways,
nights when streaked rose petals
welcome those who drink yesterday’s waters
We’ll be there to ward off
that evil, to invoke the name God.
Let our soft prayers thunder out, o my country.
Laila Neihoum (born 1961) Libya
Translated from the Arabic by Sumaya Jirde Ali
Source: Words Without Borders (from The Arab Spring, Part I, July 2011)
Our palm trees blossom from your secret springs.
Your face redeems us.
When Nowhere’s left for you we’ll take your place.
You will always be us
when nowhere’s left to go.
The flower cranes its neck upon your door.
Arrogance avoids your path.
Nights frolic, their stars bright as suns.
The Pleiades usher in the dawn
where young girls weave green fields for that which is to come,
where grains of wheat melt into what the pigeons dream
who coo their songs for those close by, and those away,
their tune a bread infused with generosity.
Their graceful chorus sings beneath the archways,
nights when streaked rose petals
welcome those who drink yesterday’s waters
We’ll be there to ward off
that evil, to invoke the name God.
Let our soft prayers thunder out, o my country.
Laila Neihoum (born 1961) Libya
Translated from the Arabic by Sumaya Jirde Ali
Source: Words Without Borders (from The Arab Spring, Part I, July 2011)
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