Summer of Lock-in Lit: Poems from ‘Sparrows Are Not a Breed of Wind’
“The lonely sparrow,” Adhab al-Rikaby writes, “envies the branch of the tree”:
By Buthaina Al Nasiri
What attracted me to these poems? Well, let me see: the sun, the sparrows, the dew, and of course the bees.
At the Arab Narration Forum, which was held in the fall of 2017 by the Sharjah Ministry of Culture in Luxor, Egypt, my hotel room overlooked a huge garden that extended to the river that separates the city’s east side from its west. After dawn on my first day, I walked out, barefoot, on dew-wet grass, chasing the sunrise. Then, sitting on a heap of stones, I opened the book I was holding and started to read the poems within, written by the Iraqi poet Adhab al-Rikaby, who was also a guest at the forum.
This was his third collection of haiku (Sparrows are not a Breed of Wind), and what other genre of poetry should you read amidst the hospitality of nature? The haiku poem, as al-Rikaby says, is a poem that does not lean on the rhythm of nature only to be immortal, but to be a life, a joy and a dream.
The first joy that overwhelmed me that day, was reading the poem below, where the dew apologizes . . . but not the bee! I read the poem in an audible voice to a bee that was buzzing around me, then flying to land on the leaves of a tree. We enjoyed the poem . . . me and the bee..
From ‘Sparrows Are Not a Breed of Wind’
Poems by Adhab Al -Rikaby
Translated from Arabic by Buthaina Al Nasiri
1
يعتذرُ
الندى
والعنادلُ والعصافيرُ
عن حضورِ
ميلادٍ زهرةِ البنفسجِ
إلاّ
!!النَّحلة
The dew apologizes
for not attending
the birth of the violet
as do nightingales and sparrows . . .
but not
the bee!
2
العصافيرِ والبلابلِ
مُتفقانِ
على أنَّ صداقة َ
العواصفِ
..كذبٌ
!!ووهمٌ
Sparrows and bulbuls
agree that
friendly storms
are a lie . . . and
an illusion
3
يحسدُ
العصفورُ الوحيد
غصنَ الشجرةِ
على استقرارهِ
ويحسدُ الغصنُ
العصفورَ
على أسفارهِ
!!وحُريّته
The lonely sparrow envies
the branch of the tree
its stability.
And the branch envies
the sparrow
for its wandering
and freedom
4
ترى الزهرةُ نفسَها
،ملكة ً
يرى الجبلُ نفسَهُ
،إمبراطوراً
يرى العصفورُ نفسَهُ
،عازفاً
ويرى
..العاشقُ نفسَهُ
!!كلَّ هؤلاءِ
The flower fancies itself
a queen,
The mountain fancies itself
an emperor,
The sparrow fancies itself
a musician,
And the lover fancies himself
all of these!
5
لا يثيرُ
خريرُ الماءِ
أيَّ إحساسٍ
لدى
!شجرة ُ الصفصاف
The murmur of water
stirs no feeling
inside the willow tree
6
كتابُ المطرِ
آخرُ
ما تُفكّرُ
الصحراءُ
!!في قراءتهِ
The Book of Rain
is the last thing
a desert would think
to read
7
ابتهاجاً
بعيدِ ميلادهِ
يُوّزعُ الشتاءُ
..مجاناً
أثوابَ الثلجِ
!!والمطرِ
To celebrate
its birthday
Winter gives away
free garments
of snow
and rain
8
وهوَ
يحتفلُ
،بعودتهِ إلى الحياةِ
يُقدّمُ الصّيفُ
لزائريهِ
..الماءَ العذبَ
!!والفاكهة
And celebrating its rebirth
Summer offers visitors
sweet water . . .
and fruit
9
الشتاءُ
،يُثمرُ ربيعاً
الربيعُ
،يُنهي أحلامَهُ صيفٌ
،الصّيفُ
،بلا سلامٍ
يتركُ كرسيَّ السلطةِ
!!للخريف
Winter yields a Spring
Spring’s dreams are ruined by
Summer.
Summer, without farewell
cedes authority
to Autumn
10
يعرفُ
العصفورُ
،قدومَ الربيعِ
من وجهِ الشتاءِ
!!الشاحبْ
The sparrow divines
the advent of Spring
from a sallow-faced Winter
11
لا ترى
العصافيرُ ضرورة ً
لمديح الحريةِ
،في نهارٍ عاصفٍ
لا ترى
الأزهارُ ضرورة ً
لكسبِ ودِّ عاصفةٍ
،هوجاءَ
لا ترى
الصحراءُ ضرورة ً
للردِّ
!على رسائلِ المطر
Sparrows see no need
to cheer freedom.
On a windy day,
flowers see no need
to win a strong storm’s favor.
And the desert sees no need
to answer the messages of rain!
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Adhab Al Rikaby is an Iraqi poet and literary critic who lives in Alexandria, Egypt. He began publishing in 1979 and has brought out 13 books of verse and 18 works of literary criticism. He is considered a pioneer of Arabic haiku.
Buthaina Al Nasiri is an Iraqi author who has lived in Cairo since 1979. Her short-story collection Final Night was translated to English by Denys Johnson-Davies.
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Short stories in our stay-at-home series:
Tareq Emam’s ‘The Tale of the Woman with One Eye,’ translated by Katherine Van de Vate
Zakaria Tamer’s ‘The Flower,’ tr. Marilyn Hacker
Lock-in Limited Release: Naguib Mahfouz’s ‘The Man in the Picture’, tr. Karim Zidan
Ali el-Makk’s ‘Forty-One Minarets’, tr. Adil Babikir
‘Eyes Shut’ by Rami Tawil, tr. Nashwa Gowanlock
Bushra Fadil’s ‘Phosphorus at the Bottom of a Well.’ tr. Mustafa Adam
Belal Fadl’s 2007 satire “Into the Tunnel,” tr. Nariman Youssef
Poems in our stay-at-home series
Ghareeb Iskander’s ‘A Letter to Adil’, translated by Hassan Abdulrazzaq
4 Poems by Jan Dost, translated by Mey Dost
Issa Hassan Al-Yasiri’s ‘A Primitive Prayer for Uruk,’ translated by Ghareeb Iskander, with thanks to Hassan Abdulrazzak
‘A Street in the Pandemic’ & Other Poems by Jawdat Fakhreddine, tr. Huda Fakhreddine
Essays in our stay-at-home series
Hisham Bustani’s ‘Eyes without a Face, or: Waiting with Billy Idol in Jordan’
Cartoons in our stay-at-home series
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