Live Encounters Poetry & Writing August 2024
The Singer’s Voice, poems by Hassan Najmi.
Translated from Arabic by Dr. Salwa Gouda.
The Singer’s Voice
The cup of song slipped from my hand
I drank, quenched my thirst, and sang
And the drink took over me
Together, we exchanged meanings in the song
You cried –
And I, captivated by the gaze, count the tears and the words
And the conversation of the song continued with us
You asked me:
Why did the tone break in the verses?
And I asked you:
What does the singer’s voice imply?
Like a little stray weed
You were standing there the whole time
Waiting for the day to end
A solitary tree in the plain kept looking at you
It was almost shadowless
And when night finally came
You remained standing at the threshold like a little stray weed
No one or anything trusted you
Even the night itself did not invite you in.
Tortuguro
There, in another moment, I see you
From here, I see you
I turn towards the distant memory of your smile
And I see you through the greenery
And this solitude and the pathway
I try to make sure of the color of the shadow
I pick a red flower without asking its name
I hear a bird’s chirp that I do not see
I open my gaze to the sea, the river, and the light
Warm rain is now falling on my life.
I will leave, returning to my room in the” Ikaku”
My shadow in my step.
© Hassan Najmi
Hassan Najmi (1960, Ibn Ahmed, Settat province) is a Moroccan poet, author, and journalist. He was The President of the Union of Writers of Morocco between 1998 and 2005 and the former head of the House of Poetry in Morocco. He is also the President of the Moroccan Center for the International PEN Club and the Secretary General of the Argana Prize for Poetry. Furthermore, he founded the House of Poetry in Morocco with a group of Moroccan poets (December 1995) and was elected vice-president and spokesperson for the House. He received many Arab and international awards, and his works have been translated into more than ten languages. He has also translated into Arabic the poetic works of several of the world’s leading poets.
Translated from Arabic by Dr. Salwa Gouda. She 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. 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 and their poetry, philosophers, historians, and men of letters, under the supervision of UNESCO. Additionally, her poetry translations have been published in various international magazines.