I conquer the universe with words.
I ravish the mother tongue,
The syntax, the grammar,
The verbs, and the nouns,
I violate the virginity of things
And form another language
That conceals the secret of fire
And the secret of water.
I illuminate the coming age
And stop the time in your eyes,
Erasing the line that separates
This moment from the years.
translated by Bassam K. Frangieh & Clementina R. Brown
Nizar Kabbani
The Talk of Her Hands by Nizar Kabbani
Keep silent,
The most beautiful voice
Is the talk of your hands
On the table.
translated by Bassam K. Frangieh & Clementina R. Brown
from The Book of Love 2 by Nizar Kabbani
Oh, my love,
If you were at the level of my madness,
You would cast away your jewelry,
Sell all your bracelets,
And sleep in my eyes.
translated by Bassam K. Frangieh & Clementina R. Brown
from The Book of Love by Nizar Kabbani
Oh green bird,
As long as you are my love,
God is in the sky.
translaed by Bassam K. Frangieh & Clementina R. Brown
poem 55 by Nizar Kabbani
Why do you ask me to write you?
Why do you ask me
To undress in front of you
Like a primitive man?
Only writing undresses me.
When I speak
I keep my clothes on.
When I write
I become free and light
Like a weightless legendary bird.
When I write,
I separate from history
From the earth’s gravity,
I turn like a planet
In the space of your eyes.
translated by Bassam K. Frangieh & Clementina R. Brown
for Valentine’s Day: Oh green bird by Nizar Kabbani
Oh green bird,
As long as you are my love,
God is in the sky.
translated by Bassam K. Frangieh & Clementina R. Brown
When I am in love by Nizar Kabbani
When I am in love
I become a liquid light
And in my notebook
The poems become
Fields of mimosas and daisies.
translated by Bassam K. Frangieh & Clementina R. Brown
Your eyes are like a rainy night by Nizar Kabbani
Your eyes are like a rainy night,
My boats sink in them,
My writing disappears in their reflection,
Mirrors have no memory.
translated by Bassam K. Frangieh & Clementina R. Brown
Oh traveler by Nizar Kabanı
Oh traveler,
After ten years,
You are still
Like a spearhead in my side.
translated by Bassam K. Frangieh & Clementina R. Brown
The day I met you by Nizar Kabbani
The day I met you
I tore up
All my maps and my prophecies
And became like an Arabian horse.
I smell the scent of your rain
Before it makes me wet,
I hear the rhythm of your voice
Before you speak
I undo your braids
Before you plait them.
translated y Bassam K. Frangieh & Clementina R. Brown