A cold day

A cold day
I don't think at all
to turn on the heat
wear a third sweater
or stand by the window
and wait for the rain
because it won't fall today
it will fall tomorrow
and I won't ask ever
how old I've become
at this hour
it is sometimes sufficient to sit
and think
it is a cold day

Dreams wilting

Mere abstraction my saying
this room
resembles a planet
the bed an island
mere abstraction
mere idiocy too
my weeping now
but these are
dreams
wilting
by the day

The clothes line

They departed
and left the clothes line behind
why didn't they forget at least
one piece of clothing

The very handsome man

For my Father
They found him thus:
a body
only naked
a green plant
had tethered his shadow
to the ground and said:
so he doesn't inadvertently sleep
then wept
thus they found him
at noon
the very handsome man
side by side
with fish.

Translated by Sharif S Elmusa from the author's poetry collection 'Al-Hayat Tutba'a fi New York' ['Life, Printing in New York'], Dar al-Jadid, Beirut 1996.
Reprinted from Banipal No 15/16

© Translation copyright Banipal and translator. All rights reserved.