"A Cosmic Portal"
(by Muthaffar al-Nawwab in translation)
Light not the night
in the guts of the damp alleys
but with tears and fire
and escort your young forth
as sorry trophies
on adorned rebel prey
spells for your newborn
from the valiant checkered cloth
A chaste dagger stands
against a different time
but this stale rhyme
whenever the bursting arrows
make it heed to a wider swath
Like a vessel concedes
not to epochs or ends
and raises its arms
facing fates and winds
They gather to carry her
to her resting place
while she to their dawn
The martyr's wing is as wide
as their ways are wrong
for he's not down or out
if he wishes so hell is more
Yes. . .let your guns go free
let them go forth
wrong are their ways
for the stars are still stark
despite their bark and this dark
for he won't be stunned
but by a chief who cheats
and I know of one
whose tails the winds beat
Light not the night
in the martyr's home
but with his wounds
that glow and from his head shone
only the wounds stay lit
his way in his eyes
his fingers knit
and his heart straight
like a mare's burst
Its pulse to this earth he had lent
to hasten its chores
his land is their final
and their fore
A cosmic portal opens in song
Bisan is still in his eyes
in his cheeks lips and forehead
waiting for her dawn.
