Like prophets
I gently walk on water
I do not stumble
A fleeting dream, moving like a train, is on my tail
Carrying me on its palms, it does not reveal where it is headed
Then it follows me like a minuscule mirage
Upon a hill in the sky of existence
It does not rest nor wither
I say unto it, it is not yet time for resurrection
It does not respond
Countless passersby take notice of my aging in solitude
Like a shell in the ocean
My prolonged patience brings it to sham
So it opens the gate of eternity and enters
It leaves me alone to be extended like a snail
And as a shadow in the dark I shrink
It believes in me, when I come unto it
And it relapses into infidelity when I lose myself into
The fast pace of passersby
And like the sun, it sets away from my body
Leaving behind a reminiscence of light scattered in the distant sky
And like the clouds, all it needs to rain is wild wind and
Sad songs
I grow bigger
Like a poem composed by an intoxicated poet
And like an apple eaten by a hungry melodic mouth, I grow smaller
And I forget why I walked on water
The wind and dust are ignorant of my questions
I see a moon
Sneaking out of my body
And I feel the lightness of my heart
Floating above water
now I know and feel what love does to strangers
I am the rested asleep wanderer
I am the refugee coming to my own aid
I am the drifter who is self-contained with his labyrinth
Every time love disregards my body, I see more
I cry to the wind; let go of me
As you do to clouds
When it follows its steps upon the ground
Water could not catch up with him, nor the volcanoes
It falls willingly into drought
And blooms when it desires so
The distant passers scream at me:
Are you Moses, that the sea lends you this path?
Or are you Noah on his ark, fleeing the warning signs of the flood
This the time of the drowned
And I laugh
I laugh Laugh
All I need is a flute, a song
And a book
So I can pass through
Aisha Al Saifi (born 1987) Oman
Translated by Ali Al Rawahi
Source: Asymptote, October 2021
I gently walk on water
I do not stumble
A fleeting dream, moving like a train, is on my tail
Carrying me on its palms, it does not reveal where it is headed
Then it follows me like a minuscule mirage
Upon a hill in the sky of existence
It does not rest nor wither
I say unto it, it is not yet time for resurrection
It does not respond
Countless passersby take notice of my aging in solitude
Like a shell in the ocean
My prolonged patience brings it to sham
So it opens the gate of eternity and enters
It leaves me alone to be extended like a snail
And as a shadow in the dark I shrink
It believes in me, when I come unto it
And it relapses into infidelity when I lose myself into
The fast pace of passersby
And like the sun, it sets away from my body
Leaving behind a reminiscence of light scattered in the distant sky
And like the clouds, all it needs to rain is wild wind and
Sad songs
I grow bigger
Like a poem composed by an intoxicated poet
And like an apple eaten by a hungry melodic mouth, I grow smaller
And I forget why I walked on water
The wind and dust are ignorant of my questions
I see a moon
Sneaking out of my body
And I feel the lightness of my heart
Floating above water
now I know and feel what love does to strangers
I am the rested asleep wanderer
I am the refugee coming to my own aid
I am the drifter who is self-contained with his labyrinth
Every time love disregards my body, I see more
I cry to the wind; let go of me
As you do to clouds
When it follows its steps upon the ground
Water could not catch up with him, nor the volcanoes
It falls willingly into drought
And blooms when it desires so
The distant passers scream at me:
Are you Moses, that the sea lends you this path?
Or are you Noah on his ark, fleeing the warning signs of the flood
This the time of the drowned
And I laugh
I laugh Laugh
All I need is a flute, a song
And a book
So I can pass through
Aisha Al Saifi (born 1987) Oman
Translated by Ali Al Rawahi
Source: Asymptote, October 2021
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