فراشنا القديم Our Old Bed

فراشنا القديم

أنتظركِ في ظلِّ أبيض
مضـاء بكبريت أعواد الشجرة
التـحتـها افترقنا
حين تأتين
ينبتُ الماءُ في عروقي
كما السحاب من البحر
وأسير بين فخذيكِ مُترنحاً
نحو ضمادة جرحي النازف دائماً
فراشُـنا الرملُ ساكنُ الأعماق القديم
غير مُحدد كإشـاعة
معاً على هذا الحرير
تملأ الرغبةُ أصواتنا طيوراً
كما تملأ اللياليَ صداقةٌ جديدة
أنتِ وأنا حوارُ ساعةٍ متأخرة
تحت ثدي الأفق
في حانةٍ بحرية
نرضعُ الإنتظار
نأتي إلى هذا الشاطئ
لنعلّـمَ الفـجرَ الوقوف على قدم واحدة
ونذهبَ إلى الغابة
لنحتطبَ أشجار الإحتمال
الحجرُ يلد الحجر
وأنا دائماً أنتظركِ
خلف لا شيء
يوقف كُرة الأرض
المتدحرجة من جبل الكون.
 

Our Old Bed

I wait for you in a bright shadow
lit by matches struck from the tree
under whose branches we said goodbye
When you arrive
fluids purl along my veins
the way clouds arise from the sea
And I stumble between your thighs
towards the cure
for this unstaunchable wound
Our bed is of sand
formed from ancient sediments
soft as a rumour
Together on this silk
desire fills our voices like flocking birds
like a new friendship filling the night
You and I are a late-night conversation
in a tavern by the sea
at the fount of the horizon
Nurtured by longing
we come to this shore
to teach the dawn new tricks
And we go to the forest
to gather wood from new trees
Stone gives birth to stone
and I will wait for you forever
knowing that nothing can stop the earth
rolling down the mountain of life.
 

Published first in The Guardian online.

Our Old Bed

I wait for you in a white shadow
Lit by (matches from) branches of the tree
Under which we parted
When you come
Water grows within my veins
Like clouds from the sea
And I walk staggering/ And I stumble between your thighs
Towards the bandage for my ever-bleeding wound
Our bed is the sand in(habiting) the old deep/depth
Undefined/vague like a rumour
Together on this silk
Desire fills our voices with birds
As new friendship fills the night
You and I are a late night conversation
Under the breast of the horizon
In a seaside tavern
Breastfed (?) the waiting
We come to this beach/the seashore
To teach the dawn standing on one leg
And go to the forest/woods
To fell the trees of possibilities
Stone gives birth to stone
And I always wait for you
Behind the nothing
That stops the globe of the earth
(From) rolling down the mountain of the universe.
 

Original Poem by

Abdullah al Ryami

Translated by

Nariman Youssef, Anna Murison, Hafiz Kheir with Sarah Maguire Language

Arabic

Country

Oman