Three Arabic Poems by Mohamed N Elramady

Translated by Nizar Sartawi

الإنســانُ A MAN 

Mohamed N Elramady

People swarmed at the door of the  dream
They scrambled to delve into the holy dream
I stood there to stop the unreasonable ones

In the halls of the dream
there was a man praying
muttering incomprehensible words
trying to penetrate the wall of time
and jumping over the walls of the universe
to get to the greatest secret

For thousands of years
he’s been trying
He has not arrived yet
but
the angels who guarded him
were amazed how he persisted
They were surprised
how ignorant was this rational man
this human being?!

أسطورةُ العشقِ الأبديةِ
THE MYTH OF ETERNAL LOVE

Rosy daughter of the moon
strike my heart with your rod
It will erupt with love in the face of the world
For I was born only to love
and you are love

Strike my heart with your heart
The World will be filled with fair women with large beautiful eyes
that whisper in the ears of darkness
hymns of freedom
and from the poem a rain falls
watering forgotten roses
so that you and I may remain
in the eyes of the world
a myth of eternal love
The angels of love inscribe our names
with golden letters

Nizar Sartawi

ســؤالٌ عصرِيٌّ
A modern question

Pens joined forces against me
I drew into myself like a shell.
Neither welcomes nor greetings for him
who leaves with me a poem
bleeding at the edge of the sky
calling on death
and none comes to her but universal nymphs
Has poetry been created but to fly without wings
and walk without feet
and go without a compass
to reside with a thousand identities
in the conscience of humanity?

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Nizar Sartawi

Nizar Sartawi is a poet, translator and educator.

He was born in Sarta, Palestine, in 1951. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature from the University of Jordan, Amman, and a Master’s degree in Human Resources Development from the University of Minnesota. Sartawi is a member of the Jordanian Writers Association and General Union of Arab Writers. He has participated in poetry readings and festivals in Jordan, Lebanon, and Morocco.

His first poetry collection, Between Two Eras, was published in Beirut, Lebanon in 2011.

His translations include: The Prayers of the Nightingale (2013), poems by Indian poet Sarojini Naidu; Fragments of the Moon (2013), poems by Italian poet Mario Rigli; The Souls Dances in its Cradle (2015), poems by Danish poet Niels Hav; all three translated into Arabic; and Contemporary Jordanian Poets, Volume I (2013); The Eyes of the Wind (2015), poems by Tunisian poet Fadhila Masaai; both translated into English. Sartawi is currently working on a translation project, Arab Contemporary Poets Series.

His poems and translations have been anthologized and published in books, journals, and newspapers in Arab countries, the U.S., Australia, Indonesia, Italy, the Philippines, and India.


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