Seeds in Flight
An ancient woman, who has lived all seasons,
wanders the earth gathering camomile.
Each flower in her apron is a star,
her apron is the sky. When she reaches the house,
she strews them to dry like shells on a beach -
to bring good luck, to whisper the future.
In the sun her tattoo glistens, a star glints
in her golden earring, the camomile dries.
Her hand, hennaed with god's names,
spun the wool of the flock, embroidered
the wedding clothes, gathers the dried flowers.
But next season, when the future arrived,
it silenced the whispers. She was buried with her ancestors.
And yet as if by chance, as if by magic, as if by a miracle
the camomile grows each season behind the house.
Many seeds have flown. These seeds remain.
Like most poems we’ve translated from Arabic, this was fiendishly difficult to unpick. Translating Arabic poetry is virtually impossible for someone unless they’re a native speaker who is steeped in contemporary Arabic poetry, so we were very lucky that Worod Musawi was there to help us.
If you look at the original Arabic version, you’ll see that the poem is centred with line breaks that seem to be based on shape more than meaning. The most radical departure we made from Khaled’s original poem was to alter the line breaks and put the poem into couplets. This slows the poem down, allowing the images room to breathe.
Flying Seeds
The ancient woman who lived through all seasons circles the earth, picking up green camomile
Every flower in (abundance/bloom?) is a star,
And (abundance) is a sky until it arrives behind the house its flowers ... as a surprise at its good luck/fortune and adorns/puts a mark on the future.
In the sun, a (tattoo...mark?) shines beneath the sweat (?), a star shines living in golden earring and camomile dries up.
And the hand that loves the wool of the field and embroidered the wedding clothes, the (bent) hand that has written on it half of Allah's divine names,* collects the dry/driest? flowers.
But the future, arriving/when it arrived the following season to avenge the traitor/slanderer
The woman was buried with her ancestors.
As if by surprise, as if by magic, as if by a miracle,
The camomile flowers still grow behind the house every season
Many seeds have flown
(But) those seeds remained.