Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Adonis

HEAVENLY SUMMATION

Up there, up above,
look at her dangling from the sky’s throat.
Look at her being fenced with the eyelashes of angels.
 
No one can walk toward her,
but one can use his forehead or palms, perhaps his navel.
 
Barefoot, knock on her door.
A prophet will open it, and teach you how to walk and how to bow.
 
A stage-play directed by the All-Powerful, the Almighty.
 
And the Lord does thus for all his sons:
 
— “Here I am, a silhouette of Jerusalem,”
cried a three-headed dummy on the stage, then exited.
“Bait al-Maqdis complained of its ruins to the Lord
and the Lord revealed unto it:
I will fill you with faces that long for you
the way doves long for their young.”
— “Fear God, O Ka’ab, how can you say this?
            Does Bait al-Maqdes have a tongue?”
— “Yes, and a heart like you.”
                        (reported by Ka’ab)
 
A stage-play directed by the All-Powerful, the Almighty.
For a long time I have begged bread to criticize salt.
Many times, I heard people ask me, whispering: “Why is death always late in Jerusalem,
                        while the march of life becomes another death?”
And “how can a head be imprisoned in the cellar of the words that it invented?”
 
Truly, the Unknown becomes deceptive in Jerusalem,
            and He is the master of all deceivers.
 
In a corner, in the farthest reaches of my desert,
a gazelle weeps.

HEMELS RESUMÉ

Omhoog, omhoog
zie hoe zij hangt aan de hals van de hemel
zie hoe zij door ogen van engelen wordt omgeven
 
Niemand gaat te voet naar haar toe
iemand kan zijn voorhoofd, schouder of wellicht navel gebruiken
 
Klop barrevoets aan haar poort
een profeet doet open en vertelt hoe te gaan en hoe af te buigen
 
Een theater dat de Wijze Almacht leidt
De Heer doet dit allemaal voor zijn kinderen
 
-       ‘Dat ben ik, een spook voor Jeruzalem’
een pop met drie koppen schreeuwde op het toneel en verdween
-       ‘De Heilige Stad klaagde bij God over verwoesting
en God openbaarde:
Voorwaar, ik vul je met biddende wangen die naar je verlangen
als een duif naar haar ei’
-       ‘Vrees God, Ka’b
Heeft de Heilige Stad een tong?’
‘Ja en net als jij een hart’
(van: Ka’b)
 
Een theater dat de Wijze Almacht leidt
 
Vaak hoopte ik dat het brood het zout zou berispen
Vaak hoorde ik iemand vragen: ‘Waarom draalt de dood in Jeruzalem?
en wordt voortleven een tweede dood?
Hoe raakt een hoofd gevangen in zijn zelfgeschapen woorden’
 
Zeker, het verborgene is bedrieglijk in Jeruzalem, is de meesterbedrieger
 
In een hoekje, aan de rand van mijn woestijn
huilt een gazelle

موجز سماوي


عالياً عالياً،
انظروا إليها تتدلّى من عنق السّماء.
انظروا إليها تُسيَّحُ بأهداب الملائكة.
 
لا يسْتخْدم أحدٌ قدميه في التوجّه إليها ،
يمكن أن يستخدم جبينَه والكتف ، وربّما السرّة .
 
اقرعوا بابَها حفاةً،
يفتحهُ نبيٌّ يعلّمكم السّيرَ ، وكيف تنحنون .
 
مسرحٌ يقودُه الحكيمُ الجبّار.
ويفعل الربُّ هذا كلّه من أجل أبنائه.
 
-      " هوذا أنا. طَيْفٌ للقدس " :
صَرختْ على المسرح دميةٌ بثلاثة رؤوسٍ وغابَتْ.
"شكا بيتُ المقدسِ إلى ربّه الخرابَ
فأوحى الله إليه:
لأَملأّنّكَ خدوداً سُجَّداً تحنّ إليكَ
حنين الحمام إلى بَيْضها" .
-      " إتّقِ الله يا كَعب ،
-      هل لبيت المقدسِ لسان؟"
- " نعم . وله قلبٌ مثلكَ " .
( عن : كعب )
 
مسْرحٌ يقوده الحكيمُ الجبّار.
 
كثيراً رَجَوْتُ الخبزَ أن ينتقد الملحَ
كثيراً سمعتُ من يسألني ، خفيةً: "لماذا يتأخّر الموت في القدس،
ويظلُّ تقدّم الحياة موتاً آخر؟
وكيفَ يُسجنُ رأسٌ في قبْو الكلمات التي ابتكرها هو نفسه ؟ "
 
حقاً ، يمكرُ الغيبُ في القدس ، وهو سيّد الماكرين .
 
في زاويةٍ ، في أقصى صحرائي ،
غزالةٌ تبكي .
Close

HEAVENLY SUMMATION

Up there, up above,
look at her dangling from the sky’s throat.
Look at her being fenced with the eyelashes of angels.
 
No one can walk toward her,
but one can use his forehead or palms, perhaps his navel.
 
Barefoot, knock on her door.
A prophet will open it, and teach you how to walk and how to bow.
 
A stage-play directed by the All-Powerful, the Almighty.
 
And the Lord does thus for all his sons:
 
— “Here I am, a silhouette of Jerusalem,”
cried a three-headed dummy on the stage, then exited.
“Bait al-Maqdis complained of its ruins to the Lord
and the Lord revealed unto it:
I will fill you with faces that long for you
the way doves long for their young.”
— “Fear God, O Ka’ab, how can you say this?
            Does Bait al-Maqdes have a tongue?”
— “Yes, and a heart like you.”
                        (reported by Ka’ab)
 
A stage-play directed by the All-Powerful, the Almighty.
For a long time I have begged bread to criticize salt.
Many times, I heard people ask me, whispering: “Why is death always late in Jerusalem,
                        while the march of life becomes another death?”
And “how can a head be imprisoned in the cellar of the words that it invented?”
 
Truly, the Unknown becomes deceptive in Jerusalem,
            and He is the master of all deceivers.
 
In a corner, in the farthest reaches of my desert,
a gazelle weeps.

HEAVENLY SUMMATION

Up there, up above,
look at her dangling from the sky’s throat.
Look at her being fenced with the eyelashes of angels.
 
No one can walk toward her,
but one can use his forehead or palms, perhaps his navel.
 
Barefoot, knock on her door.
A prophet will open it, and teach you how to walk and how to bow.
 
A stage-play directed by the All-Powerful, the Almighty.
 
And the Lord does thus for all his sons:
 
— “Here I am, a silhouette of Jerusalem,”
cried a three-headed dummy on the stage, then exited.
“Bait al-Maqdis complained of its ruins to the Lord
and the Lord revealed unto it:
I will fill you with faces that long for you
the way doves long for their young.”
— “Fear God, O Ka’ab, how can you say this?
            Does Bait al-Maqdes have a tongue?”
— “Yes, and a heart like you.”
                        (reported by Ka’ab)
 
A stage-play directed by the All-Powerful, the Almighty.
For a long time I have begged bread to criticize salt.
Many times, I heard people ask me, whispering: “Why is death always late in Jerusalem,
                        while the march of life becomes another death?”
And “how can a head be imprisoned in the cellar of the words that it invented?”
 
Truly, the Unknown becomes deceptive in Jerusalem,
            and He is the master of all deceivers.
 
In a corner, in the farthest reaches of my desert,
a gazelle weeps.

Sponsors
Gemeente Rotterdam
Nederlands Letterenfonds
Stichting Van Beuningen Peterich-fonds
Ludo Pieters Gastschrijver Fonds
Lira fonds
Partners
LantarenVenster – Verhalenhuis Belvédère