Live Encounters Arab Women Poets & Writers June 2026
The Crucified, poems Tahani Hassan Abdul Mohsen Alsubaih.
Translated from Arabic by Dr. Salwa Gouda.
The Crucified
On pillars made of paper…
He says to her: Return
for my branch is wilted.
Without you, no nightingales have ever alighted!!
Come to my heart, let passion find its home,
and let it flourish fresh, for hearts are dwellings.
Come, let the river whisper every time
the flowers embrace, and jealous streams recede.
Let sunlight pour on us across our skin
I’d move it into shade, while your neck leans.
Let the moon loosen its night-lashes over you,
coaxing you with secrets, now and then, flirting.
Come, I’ve tried to let reunion open
its first doors
And I’m always trying!!
He says: With every step, a pulse escapes you,
breaths turn back, and an ankle sprouts.
The music of feeling intensifies
when fingers climb every string we both hold.
And you—through all distances—are an ember
burning me from afar; your absence kills.
If your eyes pulled at my ribs from longing,
braids would cross over chests.
If your palms passed over the snow of my gray hair,
a warmth from the soul, flowing, would melt me.
If your feet returned to follow my yearning—
it’s enough for me that anklets long for me.
And your ears—from which labyrinth did you sharpen
them to listen to me?
No reproacher shall escape damnation.
O my most faithful love—all others
from my past are either tyrants or abandoners.
O my first laugh, by your lips, stars of laughter
were lit; wicks blazed.
When will a cloud, soft as wool, wring out its longing,
so we twist into branches and spindles rise?
When will love turn into a field of faithfulness,
and wheatears gather us on our bed?
When will we meet, in a poem’s line
in a union a flute’s breath, never erased by breaks?
Does it please you that wilting hides my features,
that neglect robs me of life’s sweetness?
That your memory, a temptation betrays me through scent,
a promise that drags its feet down the years?
If nearness to unknowns gives you doubt,
come to meaning, let signs be made clear!!
If doubt seizes every secret in you,
my heart will guide you, it’s a passionate arguer.
Come, crucify me between your sides as a lover
and if they judge your sides, say: a deceiver!!
Her Dress
Her dress, a night made of images
descending upon my fate, one fate after another.
She approaches in it—hearts tremble,
and the spirit’s branch sways in caution.
In our tradition, nothing resembles it
except the emancipation of roses and rain.
The arm of the beloved encircles it,
shielding it from the eyes of strangers.
Her dress is a step—by which we measure
how much trace is left on earth.
We stretch it into a bridge for lovers to cross—
from nomads to city-dwellers.
She didn’t tailor it to her height
she tailored it across the span of my life.
She walks swaying on melodies,
on the whisper of steps and violin strings.
She brings it while Al-Marw paves it
like a landmark paved with stone.
It flourishes because light weaves it,
rippling from the first quarter of the moon.
It turns green if a shadow dances with it
like dancing between wind and trees.
(Her Dress), still wings
for dreamers, in the wonder of travel.
I asked myself, as she drew near,
about the lover’s obsession at dawn’s edge.
How did I knot myself in the truth of her gaze
like a thread knot with pearls?
How did I pair, dizzied, with her touch
like a soul pair with earth?
To her I was drawn—her hand pulls me—
I fall toward a river and a slope.
Then I knew: water is our source,
and through it we pour generosity into hollows.
Our roots strike deep in the soil, with love,
until the end of old age.
Her dress rose like a palm tree
for the inspired-and shone from Hajar.
© Tahani Hassan Abdul Mohsen Alsubaih
Dr Salwa Gouda is an accomplished Egyptian literary translator, critic, and academic affiliated with the English Language and Literature Department at Ain Shams University. Holding a PhD in English literature and criticism, Dr. Gouda pursued her education at both Ain Shams University and California State University, San Bernardino. She has authored several academic works, including Lectures in English Poetry and Introduction to Modern Literary Criticism, among others. Dr. Gouda also played a significant role in translating The Arab Encyclopedia for Pioneers, a comprehensive project featuring poets, philosophers, historians, and literary figures, conducted under the auspices of UNESCO. Recently, her poetry translations have been featured in a poetry anthology published by Alien Buddha Press in Arizona, USA. Her work has also appeared in numerous international literary magazines, further solidifying her contributions to the field of literary translation and criticism.
Tahani Hassan Abdul Mohsen Alsubaih is a Saudi Arabic poet and novelist who has published three books: two poetry collections and one novel. She has received the International Writers Union Award (Egypt, 2022), the Ambassador Hassan Qureshi Award (Egypt, 2018), and the National Day Award (Tabuk, 2018). She has been invited to participate as a poet in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, the Emirates, and Bahrain, and served as an administrative member of Al-Ahsa Cultural Club from 2011 to 2019.