POEM - WATER AND SAND, POET - ABDEL HAKAM AL-ALLAMI
WATER AND SAND
© ABDEL HAKAM AL-ALLAMI
Translated into English from Arabic by TAGHRID BOU MERHI
The difference is clear between them—
A civilization of water,
A culture of the desert.
No one has ever agreed
On a single state of being!
Some seek a path
To journey through time,
While others refuse dialogue.
The difference is clear between them—
Water is the source of growth,
Water is the elixir of life,
And a means to purity.
Yet sand belongs to the desert,
Its purpose is to perish.
A disease is still a disease,
And the crescent moons that appear
Are unlike those
Fading beneath the sky’s drought.
The difference is clear between them—
In the north, they stand
To the left of the water,
And in the south,
To the left of the water still.
Time remains captive there.
The Euphrates flows northward
To the right of the water,
While the Nile moves southward
To the right of the water.
The difference is clear between them—
A civilization of water,
A culture of the desert.
The Nile, a guide and guided,
On its shores rest the ships
Of irrigation, generosity, and joy.
The Nile calls out
To the distant clouds,
Urging their bounty
Toward the thriving valleys
And the abundant vineyards.
Swapner Vela Sahitya Patrika (The Raft of Dreams Literary Magazine) is a Bilingual magazine in which Bengali and English literature are published from Aurangabad, MSD, W.B. Editor - Md Ejaj Ahamed
Swapner Vela Sahitya Patrika (The Raft of Dreams Literary Magazine) is a Bilingual magazine in which Bengali and English literature are published by Md Ejaj Ahamed from Aurangabad, Murshidabad, W. B, India
