A poem.

AUGUST 8, 2024

 

Good for you, you’re on the Straight Path, no need for a map

See the truth as one-sided

Stumble on the path of love and cry out loud with abandon

Still hung up on a betrayal

Shrouded in the sadness of an unexpected ‘till-we-meet-again

 

Good for you, that you can swim in your grief

Your soul raining down at the slightest memory of pain

Good for you, that you can celebrate glad tidings

Laugh with your teeth showing, without seeking protection from Evil

No time for anxiety when your heart twitters joyfully

 

Good for you where everything and anything is possible

Gift-wrapping your trust with a bow

Lips able to still say, “I promise.”

 

Really, good for you.

Even with all your losses

On this battlefield called life

You still have your heart.

 

محظوظٌ مَن يَعرفُ اليقينَ المُطلَق

مَن يَعتقدُ أنَّ لِلحقيقةِ وجهاً واحد

مَن يَتعثرُ في طريقِ الحُبِّ فيبكي بِكاملِ حُزْنِه

مَن ماتزالُ طعنةُ ظَهْرٍ تُصِيْبُهُ بِالخَيبة

مَن تُخيِّمُ عَلَيْهِ بالحُزْنِ قَطيعةٌ لامُتوقَّعة

 

محظوظٌ مَن يُمارسُ رفاهيَّةَ الحُزن

فَيُمْطِرُ رُوحَهُ بِالبكاءِ كُلَّما تَذَكَّرَ وَجَعاً

 

محظوظٌ مَن لا يُخيفُهُ خبرٌ سَعيد

مَن يضحكُ دُوْنَ أَنْ يَستعيذَ مِن شَرِّ ضِحكتِهِ

مَن لا يَتوجَّسُ حينَ يَخفقُ قلبُهُ بِالفَرَح

 

محظوظٌ مَن يُطلقُ خيالَهُ خلفَ المستحيل

مَن يَستطيعُ أَنْ يَهَبَ الثِّقَة

و مَن لا يزالُ قادراً على قَطْعِ الوُعُود

محظوظٌ جِدّاً

- لِأنَّهُ رغمَ كُلِّ خَسائرِهِ - في معركةِ الحياة

لَم يَخسَرْ قَلْبَه.

 
Hafsah Nassir Mujalli (Tr. Sawad Hussain)

HAFSAH NASSIR MUJALLI is a poet born in Yemen. She has published three story collections: La Yandhroon Lila'ala (They Do not Look Up); Roo… Mansiyat Sharqiyah (Romantic Forgotten Orientals); and Hayat Scan (Life Scan, Sana'a).

SAWAD HUSSAIN is a translator from Arabic. She is a judge for the Palestine Books Awards. She has run translation workshops under the auspices of Shadow Heroes, Africa Writes, Shubbak Festival, the Yiddish Book Center, the British Library and the National Centre for Writing. She was the 2022 translator in residence at the British Centre for Literary Translation.

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