Poems of Mohamed Ellaghafi (Morocco)

 

                    MOHAMED ELLAGHAFI

Mohamed Ellaghafi a Moroccan poet, writer, and publisher, was born on December 7, 1960, In Casablanca. He is the founder and current president of the University of Moroccan Creators and the founder of the National Poetry Award in Morocco. He has published more than fifteen books, ranging from poetry to short stories, and has participated in significant national and Arab poetry gatherings. He is considered one of the pioneers of modern poetry in Morocco, with his beginnings tracing back to the early 1980s as the founder of the (Five Senses) poetic movement, an artistic movement that emerged to align with the course of modernity.

Currently, he publishes in the Qatari magazine Doha, the London-based newspaper Al-Zaman, and the Egyptian magazine Al-Ahram. He was also honored by the Moroccan Ministry of Culture in 2019, In Beirut and Cairo In 2014, and by several prestigious associations both nationally and internationally.

His works have been translated into several languages, including English, French, Persian, German, Albanian, Italian and Korean.

THEY’RE ALL… LIES, MY FATHER

Father,

Oh Father,

The sky barely rains

But pain,

And the eyes of the weary,

Desperate,

Like autumn leaves that fall,

The heart drops

At the doorstep of the wind.

And the news tonight—

Lies.

The language of love—

Lies.

The days,

And my city when It smiles—

Lies.

Even my mother,

When she reassures me about my homeland—

Lies.

The poems of hope,

And dreams,

And visions,

Children’s songs,

The banners of rights,

Promises,

And treaties of peace—

Lies.

Oh Father,

Oh my deep wound,

Oh my hidden depth,

What is the silence's link

To the discord of places?

ABOUT TO DEPART

War

Is not all that fills this suitcase,

And all this spilled blood

Is not enough

To make

A lily bloom in the whiteness of a cloud.

...........................

Love

Is all that fills this suitcase,

And this rain falling in your eyes

Might be

Enough

For a rose to grow

Within the chambers of the heart.

My dear,

Love is a language against war.

I will be careful at the station,

Careful.

The suitcase

Will never change,

But I fear

That the water In your eyes

Might.

Translated by Hassan Yarti