Live Encounters Poetry & Writing Volume Six November-December 2024.
Arab Poets & Writers
On Two Banks, poems by Aziz Azrhai.
Translated from Arabic by Dr. Salwa Gouda.
On Two Banks
The secret we buried
In the last century
Stumbled upon its brilliance
The horses of the archaeologists
They came, contrary to the usual kindness
Armed with instincts
Led by scents
To where doubt wafts.
They were like blind men without goals
Their boats colliding with the remnants of foreignness.
And just as we left our beds
In fright
They turned back
As if lightning
Led their cores
To where the deposits cool.
And in another conversation
We descended together from the tribe of woodcutters
Celebrating solitude for the highwaymen
And casting our nets in lands
without fish…
Each of us has his secrets
And reasons.
We forgot our footsteps in another century
When we crossed the bridges of disappointment
Toward the dictionaries of maps
And dreamed of pruning joy
With scissors that do not cool.
We are now on the bank of doubt
And they, like us
Are on the other bank.
Orphans
Perhaps they finally understood
That life is a maze with doors and locks.
That wars are the gambits of gamblers
On the treasure of deceit.
That enemies are not entirely bad.
The truce is a trap that sleeps
In the pouch of friendships
That bullets are the spoils
Of those expelled from the tables of want.
That the dead are harvests drying
In the fields of books.
That condolences are a monotonous song
That enchants the sorcerers.
Perhaps they finally understood that
The orphans going to school
On a difficult day
Do not laugh at anyone.
© Aziz Azrhai
Aziz Azrhai (1965) is a Moroccan poet and visual artist. He published eight poetry collections. He, also, held several art exhibitions inside Morocco and outside. In addition, he is a member of the House of Poetry in Morocco and a former official in its executive office.
Salwa Gouda is an Egyptian literary translator, critic, and academic at the English Language and Literature Department at Ain-Shams University. She holds a PhD in English literature and criticism. She received her education at Ain-Shams University and California State University in San Bernardino. Furthermore, she has published several academic books, including Lectures in English Poetry and introduction to Modern Literary Criticism, and others. She has also contributed to the translation of “The Arab Encyclopedia for Pioneers,” which includes poets, philosophers, historians, and men of letters, under the supervision of UNESCO. Also, her translated poetry anthology, entitled Dogs Pass Through My Fingers, was published recently through Alien Buddha Press in Arizona, USA. Additionally, her literary translations have been published in various international magazines.