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Poem

Ahmed Joumari

Elegy

O . . . do you remember that year ?
Great longing is still in the eyes.
Affliction in the broken heart
Still remembers the crucifixion
Of the city’s beautiful knight.
Tears soak my life inside
And rain falls
                               In curses of blood:
Why did you slaughter our cute child
You enemy of light and spring-time!?
The echo answers . . .
Why did you crucify the city’s beautiful knight
You enemy of light and luminosity?

My rubies flowed over blood!
O brothers, lying down in every grave
I saw you like birds in a dream
Covering the face of the sun with reproach!
And every time I saw you
There was sobbing in my blood.
(...)

O month of bitter sorrow, we lost everything
We lost even our tears
O terrible face of March


O dear little ones in beloved Morocco
If what befell me was liable to forgetting
I would have with mine eyes expressed
Khansa’s elegies of Sakhr, her brother, and then taken my rest.
If what befell me was liable to forgetting
I would have stood lamenting the flowers on every grave,
With tears
Overflowing in madness.
But o brothers . . . O my fate
The words in the elegy choke me
Because I could not expose my breast to bullets
In sacrifice . . . because – I beg your pardon – I am a coward.

ELEGY

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Elegy

O . . . do you remember that year ?
Great longing is still in the eyes.
Affliction in the broken heart
Still remembers the crucifixion
Of the city’s beautiful knight.
Tears soak my life inside
And rain falls
                               In curses of blood:
Why did you slaughter our cute child
You enemy of light and spring-time!?
The echo answers . . .
Why did you crucify the city’s beautiful knight
You enemy of light and luminosity?

My rubies flowed over blood!
O brothers, lying down in every grave
I saw you like birds in a dream
Covering the face of the sun with reproach!
And every time I saw you
There was sobbing in my blood.
(...)

O month of bitter sorrow, we lost everything
We lost even our tears
O terrible face of March


O dear little ones in beloved Morocco
If what befell me was liable to forgetting
I would have with mine eyes expressed
Khansa’s elegies of Sakhr, her brother, and then taken my rest.
If what befell me was liable to forgetting
I would have stood lamenting the flowers on every grave,
With tears
Overflowing in madness.
But o brothers . . . O my fate
The words in the elegy choke me
Because I could not expose my breast to bullets
In sacrifice . . . because – I beg your pardon – I am a coward.

Elegy

O . . . do you remember that year ?
Great longing is still in the eyes.
Affliction in the broken heart
Still remembers the crucifixion
Of the city’s beautiful knight.
Tears soak my life inside
And rain falls
                               In curses of blood:
Why did you slaughter our cute child
You enemy of light and spring-time!?
The echo answers . . .
Why did you crucify the city’s beautiful knight
You enemy of light and luminosity?

My rubies flowed over blood!
O brothers, lying down in every grave
I saw you like birds in a dream
Covering the face of the sun with reproach!
And every time I saw you
There was sobbing in my blood.
(...)

O month of bitter sorrow, we lost everything
We lost even our tears
O terrible face of March


O dear little ones in beloved Morocco
If what befell me was liable to forgetting
I would have with mine eyes expressed
Khansa’s elegies of Sakhr, her brother, and then taken my rest.
If what befell me was liable to forgetting
I would have stood lamenting the flowers on every grave,
With tears
Overflowing in madness.
But o brothers . . . O my fate
The words in the elegy choke me
Because I could not expose my breast to bullets
In sacrifice . . . because – I beg your pardon – I am a coward.
Sponsors
Gemeente Rotterdam
Nederlands Letterenfonds
Stichting Van Beuningen Peterich-fonds
Ludo Pieters Gastschrijver Fonds
Lira fonds
Partners
LantarenVenster – Verhalenhuis Belvédère