For Women in Translation Month (#WiTMonth), an excerpt of Rachida Madani’s Tales of a Severed Head, translated from the French into Arabic and English. Both translations by by Marilyn Hacker:
“مقتطف من كتاب “حكايات الرأس المقطوع
رشيده مدني
ترجمة مارلين هاكر
حسرت كلّ شيءّ ،حتى وشومها
المرأة التي تمشي على الجُرف
باعت أسورها
باعت شعرها
.باعت نهديها الأبيضين
رهنت دمعتها الأخير
.و لقمة خبزها الأخيرة
تكلّمت مع الجيران
تكلّمت مع القاضي
.تكلّمت مع الريح
أرادت ولدها ، هذه المرأة
التي تمشي على الجُرف
أرادته لها ، لها وحدها
ولد رحمها
أرادت أن تهدهده محدّداً
مثل كلّ النساء
بلطفٍ، بلطفٍ، و هنّ يغنّين
.مثل كلّ الليالي، تهدهده، ولد رحمها
،ولكنّ الرجال
.الريح، يدفعوها على الجرف
تنظر إلى المحيط
و تريد أن ترمي في المحي
لتشربه كلّه
ولكن تعود فجاةً كلّ وشومها
لتحلّ في مكانها
و تبدأ كلّها بالكلام معاً
تجد فجأةً من جديد
الأساطير الخضراء و الزرقاء
منقوشة على جسدِها
إنّها واقفة الآن أمام الأمواج المرتذّة
عيناها جافان
فمها مكتز فقط
الآن تترك الجرف،و ترحل
تذهب الآن إلى عدالتها الخاصة
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An Excerpt from Tales of a Severed Head
By Rachida Madani
Tr. Marilyn Hacker
She has lost everything, even her tattoos
the woman who walks on the cliff.
She has sold her bracelets
sold her hair
sold her white breasts.
She has pawned her last tear
her last mouthful of bread.
She has talked to the neighbors
talked to the judge
talked to the wind.
She wanted her child that woman
who walks on the cliff.
She wanted him for herself
for herself alone
the child of her womb.
She wanted still to be rocking him
as all women do
gently, gently, singing
as she sang every night, to rock him
the child of her womb
But men
but the wind push her out on the cliff.
She watches the ocean
she would like to hurl herself into the ocean
to drink up the ocean.
But all at once all her tattoos
return to set themselves in place
and they all begin to speak at once.
All at once she finds
the green and blue legends
inscribed in her flesh.
Now she is standing facing the backwash
her eyes are dry
her mouth is a fold.
Now she leaves the cliff
and goes away…
Now she goes toward her own justice.
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Rachida Madani was born and lives in Tangiers, Morocco. Her first collection of poetry, Femme je suis, was published in France in 1981 by “les inéditions Barbare.” Her second collection, Contes d’un tête tranchée, was published in Morocco in 2001 by Les Editions Al-Forkane. A book comprising both of these, Blessures au vent, was published in Paris by Les Editions de la Différence in 2006, along with her first novel, L’Histoire peut attendre. Ce qui aurait pu demeurer silence was published by Al-Manar in 2015. Tales of a Severed Head, a bilingual book with Marilyn Hacker’s translations, was published by Yale University Press in 2012.
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