Three Poems by Linda Abdel Baki
Translated by Saleh Razzouk & Phillip Terman | Poetry, Translations
Incantation of Rain
Under the sight of your mirror
I raised the edge of my longing
To uncover
The ankle of the moment
And started to run
across the fields of revelation
My mad steps
Shoo the doves
My heart turned a deaf ear to the lily’s songs
And here I am
Singing the incantations of rain
Beware
I am running ahead barefoot
While letters of the spring season
Leave my mailbox
Exhausted with memories.
Four Walls and a Sigh
Whenever
The stars become
Leaves falling
On your wavy eyes,
In a night with autumn’s face,
Where the moon is a low-lit oil lamp
And the fingers of the sun are cold . . .
Whenever
The universe becomes
Four walls and a sigh
And a rainbow
Looks like a black ribbon
That wraps round the neck of tomorrow . . .
I have to know you wrestle with a longing
That easily knocks you down.
Betrayal
Your eyes uncovered
The adoring
Secrets
Of your revelation, love and longings.
they hid
The secret
Of the tramping on the pavement of wishes,
And your sleeping
On the pavement of waiting,
Opening
The gates of your heart for the sky
To shower you
With women’s perfume.
Linda Abdel Baki resides in Sweida in southern Syria. She has published eight collections of poetry, including Rose of Fire (1998), A Song for Last Evening (2002) On the Bed of My Awakening (2010) and What If (2018). She is an Ambassador for Creativity for Peace in London, a member of the union of journalists in Syria, and owns Linda Print House.
Saleh Razzouk was born in the Aleppo province. He was educated at Aleppo University, Gliwice Polytechnic of Poland, and several universities across U.K. He is a fiction writer and the translator of a study on Arabic novel by Win-Chin Ouyang and contemporary Syrian poets. Recent translations have appeared in Poetry International, Poetry London, Bitter Oleander, and The Laurel Review. Currently he is an associate professor at the University of Aleppo, Faculty of Agriculture, Fiber Science section.
Phillip Terman is the author of several collections of poetry, including Our Portion: New and Selected Poems. He teaches at Clarion University.