More than just a moment

There is always a moment that

passes by with its languid tempo,

freezing your soul in a mould of wax.

Unable to understand anything,

you sit like a statue of a pharaonic priest

with a pair of glasses

reciting silently the book of incantations,

which failed to preserve him from erosion

or from being exposed to people’s eyes…

It seems one never learns

before he burns his tongue, fingers and heart!

As if loneliness and horror

were not the same miserable picture

in the old apartment of the family…

So why would you sigh now in grief?

And how long would you deceive time?

Isn’t it better to fully fill your space,

and not give the chance

to any fool idea,

or mad sparrow,

or dull word

threatening your defenses

and making you feel all this weakness?

Translated by the author

published in Meena Magazine 2005

Painting by Abd El- Hady El-Gazzar

Signs

Dust

,will swallow your face

leave you barking at

a mute moon with a face

covered only with

!Dust

...I was telling you

You’re not a horse now

and the tremble of your ribs

!would move nothing

...I was telling you

The directs of the wind which

you used to read with a wet finger

are so puzzled

that they can’t carry the carpet

nor bring it back

!to the place where we humbly gathered

...I was telling you

Do not leave anything on the table

that might remind you of anything

!or incite you to virtue

.The world is divided now into two parts

The cream has melted on the tablecloth

...and strawberry jam dirtied all the faces

The jar has fallen

!and love… is dripping on the floor

:Between you and me

,Schoolboys will march in demonstrations tomorrow

jump like popcorn

,and shout with broken throats

:repeating the first words of the sparrow among them

“!What is done is done”

“!What’s passed is passed”

,Neither clubs

nor water hoses

nor waves of dust

.will silence them

...So

!!?What were you saying

Translated by Samy Ismael

published in Meena Magazine in 2005

The painting is the "Scream" by Edvard Munch