Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Wadih Sa’adeh

The Exhausted People

The exhausted people were sitting in the square
listening to the soft winds which may have been peddlers
or loiterers who had lost their way.

The exhausted people had their own open square
where the paving stones had taken on human qualities;
if one of the people was missing,
they cried out for him.

The exhausted people were in the open square
and their faces grew more brittle each day,
their hair, softer
in the evening’s faint light.
When they glanced at one another, their eyes were brittle
until they thought of themselves as glass
and shattered.

المتعبون

المتعبون

المتعَبون يجلسون في الساحة
ينصتون إلى عبور النسمات، التي كانت في الأرجح بائعين متجوّلين
أو متسكّعين، فقدوا أقدامهم

للمتعبين ساحة
بلاطاتها، مع الأيام، اكتسبت صفات إنسانية
حتى أنها إذا غاب واحدٌ منهم
تبكي.

المتعبون في الساحة، وجوههم ترقُّ يومًا بعد يوم
وشَعرهم يلين
في هواء الليل و الأضواء الخفيفة،
وحين ينظرون إلى بعضهم ترقُّ عيونهم أيضًا
إلى درجة أنهم يظنون أنفسهم زجاجًا
وينكسرون.
Close

The Exhausted People

The exhausted people were sitting in the square
listening to the soft winds which may have been peddlers
or loiterers who had lost their way.

The exhausted people had their own open square
where the paving stones had taken on human qualities;
if one of the people was missing,
they cried out for him.

The exhausted people were in the open square
and their faces grew more brittle each day,
their hair, softer
in the evening’s faint light.
When they glanced at one another, their eyes were brittle
until they thought of themselves as glass
and shattered.

The Exhausted People

The exhausted people were sitting in the square
listening to the soft winds which may have been peddlers
or loiterers who had lost their way.

The exhausted people had their own open square
where the paving stones had taken on human qualities;
if one of the people was missing,
they cried out for him.

The exhausted people were in the open square
and their faces grew more brittle each day,
their hair, softer
in the evening’s faint light.
When they glanced at one another, their eyes were brittle
until they thought of themselves as glass
and shattered.
Sponsors
Gemeente Rotterdam
Nederlands Letterenfonds
Stichting Van Beuningen Peterich-fonds
Ludo Pieters Gastschrijver Fonds
Lira fonds
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