Rawan Maki’s ‘Waves of the Future’ / ‘أمواج المستقبل’
Rawan Maki’s “Waves of the Future” originally appeared in the Summer 2019 issue of ArabLit Quarterly — THE SEA — and we share it free online in celebration of Women in Translation Month:
Waves of the Future
By Rawan Maki, with Nidal Khalaf
Translated by Rawan Maki
We “reclaim” land from water, taking back what was never given
We worship our own footsteps, replacing the water’s sheen
Perhaps if we tread more lightly, the shore could erase some of them
The Gulf’s waters remain wise
They know where to meet the shore on a desert island
Through ebb and flow
An equilibrium—always dynamic—a conversation
When we come to meet the future
We realize the future is here, happening all along
When we come to meet ourselves
We peel layers off, put on even more
The feminine palm leaves and masculine bark from each root
Not genderless! But gender-ful, with the beauty of both contained
Your own layers, patchwork of yourself
They will come undone, only to become repurposed
Ask not why each wave is there!
But where the ocean moves as a whole
Trust that in its vastness there is direction
Vastness is not endless, not empty
It is rich in vastness
Grasp the vastness, weave it into yourself
You will no longer see anything else
Yes, the future is here!
Sip the tea now, warm your hands
As for the set of cards in your hands right now
Admire them
Stack them! Shuffle, deal
Re-use them
Home is where you start, but also all the places where you feel yourself “becoming”
We are all recycled versions of ourselves, magnified by each re-use
*
أمواج المستقبل
روان مكي مع نضال خلاف
نسترجع أرضاً من المياه، نستعيد ما لم يهدَ
نقدّس آثار خطواتنا؛ خطواتٌ تسلب المياه بريقها
عسانا نخطو بتمهّلٍ، لعل الساحل يمحو بعض آثارها
وتدوم حكمة أمواج الخليج
أمواج لم تنس خطوط اندماجها بساحل أرض الصحراء
من مدٍ ومن جزرٍ
كأنّهما في حالة توازنٍ -تدفّقٍ-بل محادثة
وحين نأتي لنقابل المستقبل
نجده حاضراً، يحدث باستمرار
وحين نأتي لنقابل أنفسنا، نترقب جذوراً في الأرض
نتجرد من طبقاتٍ، ونكتسي أضعافها
ومن كلّ جذرٍ يسمو سعف نخيل أنثوي ولحاء رجولي
جذرٌ لا ينقصه تذكيرٌ ولا تأنيث، بل يكتمل بجمال كليهما
قشورك أنت، رُقْعات نفسك
ستتحلل، فقط لتجدد كيانها
لا تسلْ كل موجة “من أين أتيتني؟”
بل اسألْ عن اتجاه البحر بأكمله
وثقْ بأن في ذلك الوسع اتجاهٌ
والوسع لا يكون بلا نهاية، وما هو بفارغٍ
فالوسع دوماً ممتلئٌ بالوسع
لفّ أصابعك حول الوسع
وانسجه بنفسك
عندها، لن تر شيئاً آخر
نعم، لقد وصل المستقبل
فارتشف جرعة شاي، وأدفئ يديك
أما الاوراق بين يديك
فتأمّلها
رتّبها
اخلطها وانثرها
واستعملها مرة ثانية وثالثة وبعدها رابعة
دارك هو نقطة البداية
ولكنه أيضاً كل النقاط التي شعرت فيها أنك “تكون”
وما نحن إلا نماذج متجددة عن أنفسنا
!نماذجٌ تزداد وسعاً مع كلّ استعمال
*
Rawan Maki is a Bahraini, London-based fashion designer and PhD candidate in Fashion Sustainability at the London College of Fashion. The way Rawan approaches sustainability—in both her designs and PhD research—is material, ethical, and social. During her design process, Rawan sketches, writes, and paints. Rawan’s PhD research looks at transitioning into sustainability and what that would entail for the Arab world on a material, cultural and socio-political level. In her designs, Rawan combines her environmental engineering background with fashion-design principles and thinks of each piece as a “system,” both aesthetically and in terms of zero-waste design principles.
Nidal Khalaf has a Master’s student in Chemical Engineering from the American University of Beirut (AUB), as well as a freelance translator and editor. Nidal’s passion for the Arabic language was nurtured at the AUB while he served as Arabic editor for Outlook, the university’s official newspaper. Currently, Nidal is a Visiting Researcher at the University of Limerick, Ireland.