Poem
Ouidad Benmoussa
What’s your address, bird!
1Femininity is a place
Where it is unpleasant to stay
Unless love shines like a lamp
Unless time turns into bridges
Unless the body ripens like a Seville orange
Perfectly with the advent of desire
2
Don’t lie to me,
A place isn’t necessarily land or empty space
A place is also a sky
Otherwise, what’s your address, O bird?
3
The tree is a place
Its branches are small places
Where other beings celebrate their weddings
I saw that with my very soul . . .
4
Those places rejected me
Just because I was faithful to places
With much more
Chirping
Much more lewdness
5
I would often chant:
O doubles
O places far into the distance
Will you grieve when I die?
6
One place separates childhood from old age
It's that room
Where we made love
For the first time
7
I know a woman who spent her entire life in the selfsame place
I wonder how the place would feel
If she’s suddenly gone
8
There are places that suffer
And other places that exert their nakedness
While other places
In sheer holiness
Drag us to Doom
Where God forgives the remaining sins
9
Once in a particular place
Don’t ask about its authority
Its authority is you
Do not ask for its magic
Its magic is your destination
Beware not to lose yourself in its madness
(The madness of Man stems from the madness of places)
10
I who learnt the wind’s lesson:
No place compares
To this placelessness
I flow as if I were the wind . . .
11
You know that places have a language
So why do you keep silent in their presence
Why don’t you challenge them with singing or crying
Why not make them keep vigil on your recumbence?
12
I don’t believe it:
Do places have slaves?
If so,
How come they are guarded only by vacancy?
13
You want to fence places with iron wire?
Beware they don’t fence you with wires of loneliness and madness
14
Tomorrow I will open my breast to this place
Its awe tempts me
15
Here in this place
I’ll sow my loneliness
It will bloom into a poem
16
I fill myself with the whinnying of places
And run across the wilderness
I want to reach the peak of commotion
I want to live
17
Stay in this place
Your life will come
And kneel at your feet
I mean the wilderness leading to a forest overlooking the sea by the hill
Sleep a little at the foot of that hill
18
A place sings hymns to the sun
A place says prayers to God
And another denies silence
Who said that places aren’t brothers and sisters to Man?
19
A place is pre-human
And will remain long after Man is no more
So you, learned Man! why do you look so perplexed?
20
I have dear friends in place
Exactly
As I have dear friends in God
Do you grasp that, you Eternity?
21
Whenever I see my beloved in a place
That place takes on the face of my beloved
Hence
My fear to lose my beloved
And so lose the splendor of place
22
Poems are the offspring of places
Places are a refuge to poems
So let’s stop by and cry . . .
23
My place is where I can create,
Take up the whole space,
And thrive over
Boredom and emptiness
24
I am booming with places
Don’t challenge me, you monastery
You churches don’t contend with me
You Great Mosque
Don’t surprise me
From under this tree
I can reach God
With my crying
25
Ask me about the things I crave, O lover
I will say:
Places are full of your prayers
Abundant in your epiphanies (escapades)
Faithful to your longing
I hunger for the place . . . you . . .
26
Pubs are places
Desecrated by the absence of awareness
Made attractive by the absence of awareness
You alone can choose
From what angle to perceive
27
In that place where dates fell
Over Mary
A tale was born that the world believed
In that other place, the cave of Hira
Another tale was born
Do you get it?:
Places are the roots of all stories
28
Places fall in love too
Become depressed
And withdraw
From love’s heaven
As the radiance fades away
I read that in many a book of revelation
© Translation: 2015, Norddine Zouitni
ما عنوانك أيها الطائر
ما عنوانك أيها الطائر
1الانوثة مكان
لا تحلو الاقامة فيه
إلا والحب قنديل يشع
إلا والزمن جسور
إلا ونارنجة الجسد قد نضجت
تماما مع حلول الرغبة
2
لا تكذبوا علي،
فالمكان ليس بالضرورة أرضا أو خلاء
المكان أيضا سماء
وإلا فما عنوانك أيها الطائر؟
3
الشجرة مكان
أغصانها أمكنة صغيرة
فيها تقيم الكائنات الأخرى أعراسها.
بأم روحي رأيت ذلك...
4
تلك الأمكنة رفضتني
فقط لاني كنت وفية لأمكنة
أكثر
زقزقة
اكثر فجورا
5
كثيرا ما غنيت:
أيتها الشبيهات
يا أمكنة في المدى
هل ستحزنين حين أموت؟
6
مكان واحد يفصل الطفولة عن الشيخوخة
إنها تلك الغرفة
التي مارسنا فيها الحب
لأول مرة
7
أعرف امرأة قضت طول وعرض حياتها في نفس المكان
ترى، ما ستكون مشاعر المكان
لو فجأة رحلت؟
8
ثمة أمكنة تشقى
وأخرى تمارس عريها
بينما أخرى
بكل قداسة
تجرنا إلى الحتف
حيث الله يغفر باقي الخطايا
9
حين تكون في المكان
لا تسأل عن سلطته
فسلطته فيك
لا تسأل عن سحره
فسحره مآلك
كن فقط حذرا أن تضيع في جنونه
(جنون الانسان من جنون الامكنة)
10
أنا التي أحفظ درس الريح:
ليس كمثلله مكان
هذا اللامكان.
أسيح كما لو أني الريح...
11
انت تعرف ان للمكان لغة
فلماذا تصمت في حضرته
لماذا لاتتحداه بالغناء او البكاء
لماذا لا تجعله يسهر في انحائك؟
12
لا أصدق:
هل حقا للمكان عبيد؟
وإذن،
كيف لا يحرسه غير هذا الفراغ؟
13
تريد ان تُسَيَّجَ المكان بأسلاك الحديد؟
حاذر أن يسيجك بأسلاك الوحدة والجنون
14
غدا سأفتح لهذا المكان صدري
رهبته تغريني
15
هنا في هذا المكان أزرع وحشتي
عساها تينع
فتصير قصيدة
16
امتلئ بصهيل الامكنة
وأجري في المفازات
أريد أن أدرك ذروة الجموح
أريد أن أحيا.
17
ابق في هذا المكان
سيجيء عمرك
وسيسجد تحت قدميك
اقصد الخلاء المفضي إلى غابة تطل على البحر المجاور لرابية
نم قليلا على جذع تلك الرابية...
18
مكان يسبح بحمد الشمس
مكان يصلي لله
وآخر يكفر بالصمت
من قال إن الامكنة ليست إخوة الإنسان؟
19
المكان كان قبل الانسان
سيبقى بعد الانسان
ففيما ذهولك أيها العارف؟
20
لي أحبة في المكان
تماما
كما لي أحبة في الله
هل تفهمينني أيتها الابدية؟
21
كلما رأيت حبيبي في مكان
صار للمكان وجه حبيبي
لذلك
خوفي أن أخسر حبيبي
فأخسر بهاء المكان
22
القصائد بنات الأمكنة
الأمكنة مأوى القصائد
فقفا نبكي....
23
مكاني حيث أستطيع أن أبتكر
أن أحتكر
كل المكان كي أنتصر
على الضجر والفراغ
24
أنا ضاجة بالأمكنة
فلا تتحداني أيها الدير
أيتها الكنائس لا تعانديني
يها الجامع الأعظم
لا تدهشني
إنني من تحت جذع شجرة
بوسعي
ان ارسل هذب بكائي إلى الله
25
اسألني عماأشتهي أيها العاشق
أقول لك:
المكان آهل بصلواتك
سخيٌّ بشطحاتك
وفيٌّ لصبواتك
أشتهي المكان، أنت....
26
الحانات أمكنة
يدنسها ذهاب الفطنة
الحانات يجملها ذهاب الفطنة
لك وحدك أن تختار
من أية زاوية تراها
27
في ذلك المكان تساقطت فيه الرُّطب
على مريم
تولدت حكاية صدقها العالم
في ذلك المكان، غار حراء
تولدت أخرى
هل تفهم؟:
المكان أصل الحكايات كلها.
28
الامكنة أيضا تعشق
و تكتئبُ
ثم تنسحب
من سماء الهوى
وقد انطفأ بريقها.
قرأت ذلك في كثير من الأسْفار
From: Alhu bihatha al \'Umr
Publisher: Dar Toubkal, Casablanca
Publisher: Dar Toubkal, Casablanca
Poems
Poems of Ouidad Benmoussa
Close
What’s your address, bird!
1Femininity is a place
Where it is unpleasant to stay
Unless love shines like a lamp
Unless time turns into bridges
Unless the body ripens like a Seville orange
Perfectly with the advent of desire
2
Don’t lie to me,
A place isn’t necessarily land or empty space
A place is also a sky
Otherwise, what’s your address, O bird?
3
The tree is a place
Its branches are small places
Where other beings celebrate their weddings
I saw that with my very soul . . .
4
Those places rejected me
Just because I was faithful to places
With much more
Chirping
Much more lewdness
5
I would often chant:
O doubles
O places far into the distance
Will you grieve when I die?
6
One place separates childhood from old age
It's that room
Where we made love
For the first time
7
I know a woman who spent her entire life in the selfsame place
I wonder how the place would feel
If she’s suddenly gone
8
There are places that suffer
And other places that exert their nakedness
While other places
In sheer holiness
Drag us to Doom
Where God forgives the remaining sins
9
Once in a particular place
Don’t ask about its authority
Its authority is you
Do not ask for its magic
Its magic is your destination
Beware not to lose yourself in its madness
(The madness of Man stems from the madness of places)
10
I who learnt the wind’s lesson:
No place compares
To this placelessness
I flow as if I were the wind . . .
11
You know that places have a language
So why do you keep silent in their presence
Why don’t you challenge them with singing or crying
Why not make them keep vigil on your recumbence?
12
I don’t believe it:
Do places have slaves?
If so,
How come they are guarded only by vacancy?
13
You want to fence places with iron wire?
Beware they don’t fence you with wires of loneliness and madness
14
Tomorrow I will open my breast to this place
Its awe tempts me
15
Here in this place
I’ll sow my loneliness
It will bloom into a poem
16
I fill myself with the whinnying of places
And run across the wilderness
I want to reach the peak of commotion
I want to live
17
Stay in this place
Your life will come
And kneel at your feet
I mean the wilderness leading to a forest overlooking the sea by the hill
Sleep a little at the foot of that hill
18
A place sings hymns to the sun
A place says prayers to God
And another denies silence
Who said that places aren’t brothers and sisters to Man?
19
A place is pre-human
And will remain long after Man is no more
So you, learned Man! why do you look so perplexed?
20
I have dear friends in place
Exactly
As I have dear friends in God
Do you grasp that, you Eternity?
21
Whenever I see my beloved in a place
That place takes on the face of my beloved
Hence
My fear to lose my beloved
And so lose the splendor of place
22
Poems are the offspring of places
Places are a refuge to poems
So let’s stop by and cry . . .
23
My place is where I can create,
Take up the whole space,
And thrive over
Boredom and emptiness
24
I am booming with places
Don’t challenge me, you monastery
You churches don’t contend with me
You Great Mosque
Don’t surprise me
From under this tree
I can reach God
With my crying
25
Ask me about the things I crave, O lover
I will say:
Places are full of your prayers
Abundant in your epiphanies (escapades)
Faithful to your longing
I hunger for the place . . . you . . .
26
Pubs are places
Desecrated by the absence of awareness
Made attractive by the absence of awareness
You alone can choose
From what angle to perceive
27
In that place where dates fell
Over Mary
A tale was born that the world believed
In that other place, the cave of Hira
Another tale was born
Do you get it?:
Places are the roots of all stories
28
Places fall in love too
Become depressed
And withdraw
From love’s heaven
As the radiance fades away
I read that in many a book of revelation
© 2015, Norddine Zouitni
From: Alhu bihatha al \'Umr
From: Alhu bihatha al \'Umr
What’s your address, bird!
1Femininity is a place
Where it is unpleasant to stay
Unless love shines like a lamp
Unless time turns into bridges
Unless the body ripens like a Seville orange
Perfectly with the advent of desire
2
Don’t lie to me,
A place isn’t necessarily land or empty space
A place is also a sky
Otherwise, what’s your address, O bird?
3
The tree is a place
Its branches are small places
Where other beings celebrate their weddings
I saw that with my very soul . . .
4
Those places rejected me
Just because I was faithful to places
With much more
Chirping
Much more lewdness
5
I would often chant:
O doubles
O places far into the distance
Will you grieve when I die?
6
One place separates childhood from old age
It's that room
Where we made love
For the first time
7
I know a woman who spent her entire life in the selfsame place
I wonder how the place would feel
If she’s suddenly gone
8
There are places that suffer
And other places that exert their nakedness
While other places
In sheer holiness
Drag us to Doom
Where God forgives the remaining sins
9
Once in a particular place
Don’t ask about its authority
Its authority is you
Do not ask for its magic
Its magic is your destination
Beware not to lose yourself in its madness
(The madness of Man stems from the madness of places)
10
I who learnt the wind’s lesson:
No place compares
To this placelessness
I flow as if I were the wind . . .
11
You know that places have a language
So why do you keep silent in their presence
Why don’t you challenge them with singing or crying
Why not make them keep vigil on your recumbence?
12
I don’t believe it:
Do places have slaves?
If so,
How come they are guarded only by vacancy?
13
You want to fence places with iron wire?
Beware they don’t fence you with wires of loneliness and madness
14
Tomorrow I will open my breast to this place
Its awe tempts me
15
Here in this place
I’ll sow my loneliness
It will bloom into a poem
16
I fill myself with the whinnying of places
And run across the wilderness
I want to reach the peak of commotion
I want to live
17
Stay in this place
Your life will come
And kneel at your feet
I mean the wilderness leading to a forest overlooking the sea by the hill
Sleep a little at the foot of that hill
18
A place sings hymns to the sun
A place says prayers to God
And another denies silence
Who said that places aren’t brothers and sisters to Man?
19
A place is pre-human
And will remain long after Man is no more
So you, learned Man! why do you look so perplexed?
20
I have dear friends in place
Exactly
As I have dear friends in God
Do you grasp that, you Eternity?
21
Whenever I see my beloved in a place
That place takes on the face of my beloved
Hence
My fear to lose my beloved
And so lose the splendor of place
22
Poems are the offspring of places
Places are a refuge to poems
So let’s stop by and cry . . .
23
My place is where I can create,
Take up the whole space,
And thrive over
Boredom and emptiness
24
I am booming with places
Don’t challenge me, you monastery
You churches don’t contend with me
You Great Mosque
Don’t surprise me
From under this tree
I can reach God
With my crying
25
Ask me about the things I crave, O lover
I will say:
Places are full of your prayers
Abundant in your epiphanies (escapades)
Faithful to your longing
I hunger for the place . . . you . . .
26
Pubs are places
Desecrated by the absence of awareness
Made attractive by the absence of awareness
You alone can choose
From what angle to perceive
27
In that place where dates fell
Over Mary
A tale was born that the world believed
In that other place, the cave of Hira
Another tale was born
Do you get it?:
Places are the roots of all stories
28
Places fall in love too
Become depressed
And withdraw
From love’s heaven
As the radiance fades away
I read that in many a book of revelation
© 2015, Norddine Zouitni
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