I close my gate, wanting to end grief,
but grief won’t go away. Then spring
wind comes, and I want to keep grief
close, but somehow grief won’t stay.
translated by David Hinton
Month: June 2019
When rain fell on both of us by Nizar Kabbani
When rain fell on both of us
Thousands of plants
Grew on our coats.
After you left
Rain began to fall on me alone
But on my coat nothing grew.
translated by Bassam K. Frangieh & Clementina R. Brown
My lover asks me by Nizar Kabbani
My lover asks me:
“What is the difference between me and the sky?”
The difference, my love,
Is that when you laugh,
I forget about the sky.
translated by Bassam K. Frangieh & Clementina R. Brown
Harry standing eight
he is up, up
swaying slightly
as if in a strong wind
though no wind blows
through the rooms
that make up his home
just the wind of memory
and regret
of lost moments
failed promises
and hope gone missing
from his door
Don’t worry by Nizar Kabbani
Don’t worry,
My sweetest,
You are in my poetry and in my words.
You might grow old in years,
But you are ever young in my pages.
translated by Bassam K. Frangieh & Clementina R. Brown
Our love by Nizar Kabbani
Our love
Has no mind or logic
Our love
Walks on water.
translated by Bassam K. Frangieh & Clementina R. Brown
When I fell in love by Nizar Kabbani
When I fell in love,
The kingdom of the Lord changed.
Twilight slept in my coat,
And the sun rose in the west.
translated by Bassam K. Frangieh & Clementina R, Brown
In Memory: “Every amount of wasted time, every poor choice… went into making me understand who I am and what I am”
remembering Baby Jane Dexter whose voice could make the hair stand up on the back of my neck and whose long ago friendship still stays with me in my heart: from Douglas moore’s Art of Quotation
“Every amount of wasted time, every poor choice, every mistake, every single thing that happened to me went into making me understand who I am and what I am. That’s why I came back to singing again. It was really about moving forward.”
Baby Jane Dexter, 1946-2019, singer
I want to write different words for you by Nizar Kabbani
I want to write different words for you
To invent a language for you alone
To fit the size of your body
And the size of my love.
I want to travel away from the dictionary
And leave my lips.
I am tired of my mouth
I want a different one
That can change
Into a cherry tree or a matchbox,
A mouth from which words can emerge
Like nymphs from the sea,
Like white chicks jumping from the magician’s hat.
translated by Bassam K. Frangieh & Clementina R. Brown
Leonard Durso 