Live Encounters Poetry & Writing Volume Six November-December 2024.
Arab Poets & Writers
Nostalgia, oh Zahia…nostalgia, poems by Azmi Abdel Wahab.
Translated from Arabic by Dr. Salwa Gouda.
Nostalgia, oh Zahia… nostalgia
I have grown enough
To understand nostalgia… oh “Zahia”…
And you have become an old woman
With no one knocking at your door
I wish I had kept your picture
Of you sitting on the “couch”
With your short black hair
Peeking shyly
And beneath your house dress
Two apricots lie sleeping
They were round
As if untouched by any human hand
You have changed so much
I have changed so much
I have faded to the point that you won’t recognize me
For here they light candles at night
Because foolish men
Tore the clothes of a woman
How many men
Have torn your clothes, oh poor soul
Then they left your shabby room
After you granted them joy and manhood
Oh,
Fifteen years of absence
Have surely worn down your face
And no one visits you anymore
Not even your daughters whom you taught
How to bring happiness to passersby
They only come to see you in festivals
And you bear no anger towards them
Nor towards me!
Because you know
That I have grown enough
To understand nostalgia, Zahia.
In a Small House
In this small house
We opened the doors for singing
We left a tree peeking through the windows
We wiped the floor well
And rearranged the clothes in the wardrobe
We washed the shade plant with water
And removed the spider webs
From the dark corners
We set the sun at the table
It was happy
We told it about death
In a small house
In distant lands
And it cried
The air was fresh
And the sheets were clean
And a scant moon illuminating the faces
We slept deeply
As if we had never known sleep at all
And in the morning we woke up
With blood on our palms
And the smell of decay in our bodies
Where did all these corpses come from
To occupy the rooms crowded with life
And leave us in the void?
And no home for us?!
© Azmi Abdel Wahab
Azmi Abdel Wahab is an Egyptian poet and journalist. He published eight collections of poetry, and his poems were issued in most Egyptian and Arab periodicals and newspapers. Moreover, his poetry is translated into more than one language, including English, French, and Persian. He, also, participated in many poetry conferences in the Arab world and won several awards from Egyptian cultural institutions.
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.