They say that the night - Zahra el Hasnaui

They say that the night

repossesses

your indigo, violet,

and cobalt tones.

uncontained - Zaim Allal

turning for the door, tears began streaming	●●	tears as I crossed the threshold
tears till I felt tired	●●	and I walked on that asphalt

Sahara - Mohammed Ebnu

What lies behind

those walls

inscribed with your name

Tishuash - Badi

All that has been has gone,

(how great the living and everlasting God!)

but how beautiful this scene is!

Branches That Thirst - Limam Boicha

Beneath the shadow of a thorn tree

two naked people

are shuddering with thirst

while their oasis

lies half a desert away

Voices - Zahra el Hasnaui

To all the Sahrawi voices locked in graves and jails;

those voices that, nevertheless, bring down more than walls.

Perhaps you think your voice does not reach me,

that the evil sirocco carries it off

before it fills my senses.

Perhaps you dream that the echo is mute

the mirror blind and your lines

cowardice.

Your clones pile up,

and in a riot they fight

in black and white

to leave my throat.

Sometimes I spit,

almost always I gobble

down wrath and blood,

and peace and dirt.

I would like to chain

your hands to mine

and swing open the roof

top up to the stars.

I would like to wash

the anger from your eyes.

Thirty voices

thirty times

repeat the history,

because no one or thing

ever could or can tame

the voices that brush

against the soul.

---

Zahra el Hasnaui (born 1964) Western Sahara

Translated by Joseph Mulligan

Source: Poems for the Millennium, Vol 4, edited by Pierre Joris and Habib Tengour, University of California Press, 2012

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

Children of the Sun and the Wind - Mohammed Ebnu

We still live
on the brink of nothingness,
between the north and south of the seasons

Tiris - Ali Salem Iselmu

If you ever come
to a wide, white land
dotted with towering black statues