Anxieties of Corrupted Times

... والليلة يا أمي حلمت برياح تجتاح المراعي ،

قمع خيولي ،

طرد الغزلان بلدي ،

يجلدونني بشكل علني بأفعى ،

ألزمني خلف خيام شعبي ،

أروي عطشي ، عندما أفعل ، بدمي ،

ويغذيني بالهزيمة.

الليلة ، أمي ، رأيت خيولًا مقطوعة الرأس

غزو ​​شعبي ،

وامرأة على اللافتة

تصرخ باسمي

عارية ، مبللة بالدم ،

والغيوم تتسابق فوق أراضينا المليئة بالدماء

تمطر على رجال القبائل بالمياه الحمضية ورائحة السم.

أمي ، لقد رأيتكِ ثكلى

نثر الرمال

بين الموتى

وجمع فتات اللحم.

رأيت غرابًا كبيرًا مثل الليل ،

نعيق يحيط بي ،

ظل يحلق حول الخيمة متجاهلاً لي ،

ثم خطف طفلي

وطار بعيدًا ، تاركًا لي

تتمايل في الرمال الداكنة ،

أفقد عقلي.

رأيتُ الأسود تزأر همسات.

I saw dogs howling at the sun.

I saw rabid wolves.

I saw an army of black ants on the roses.

I saw intoxicated goats.

And tonight, Mother, I dreamt of long tamarisk branches

growing out of the horses’ carcasses,

sprouting into yellow flowers

diffusing a stony scent,

entangling like antlers,

diverging like chronic sorrow,

and were chewed by the night’s molars,

then vomited in the face of the shining dawn,

in the face of these sordid times,

and spat on this generation’s face.

I saw big cities running across the desert’s mirage,

being chased by exhausted fear,

being hunted by a terrifying sickness,

and crushed to pieces by the demon of alienation and vice.

 

I saw falcons, cameleers and cunning warriors up in the city’s heights,

and I saw the blood of its people

dripping from the talons of an eagle.

I saw a vulture stealing a palace.

I saw a crow eating a tiger.

I saw snakes on the horizon

painting rainbows.

I saw faces on balconies

wearing ghostly masks.

And I saw brains on the streets

absorbing salty toasts.

 

Mother, is this a nightmare or an illusion?

Or is it something else that’s taking over, or

is this desolate insomnia just a dream?

It’s what I felt while I was awake resting my head

against the outer rope

and touching the grass,

which stung me like needles this grass

grazed… this rope grazed my throat

as it stretched from knot to knot to the center pole.

 

Mother, I dreamt tonight that my eyes were folded,

the land of my people pillaged,

and the heads of my men mounted on the wall;

but I saw you, Mother, not crying… because tears are crucified

and the center pole is tied up in knots.