New Poetry in Translation: Khaled Juma’s ‘The Right Time’

The Right Time

By Khaled Juma

Translated by Zainab Al Qaisi

 

I had an appointment
with the Right Time
at the crumbling old café
in the rundown city.

I’d been waiting since I was ten.
As usual, the Right Time was late.

I sent it a letter, but it didn’t reply.
(Cell phones hadn’t yet become common.)

I sent it a reproach along with a friend,
but my friend came back, saying:
“I couldn’t find it.
“They told me it had gone to be someone else’s Right.”

Time turned like a windmill on a windy day.
Then, by coincidence, I glimpsed it
at the roadside,
unseeing, gazing at all the Right Times as they passed by.

Compassionately,
I placed a hand on its shoulder,
and my old grudge faded.

“Why didn’t you come to our appointment?”
It felt my hand. Then it recognized me
and replied:
“It wasn’t the Right Time.”

*

“الوقت المناسب”

خالد جمعة

كان لي موعدٌ

مع “الوقت المناسب”

في المقهى القديم المُتداعي

في المدينة المتداعية

انتظرتُ منذ كنتُ في العاشرة

تأخر “الوقت المناسب” كعادته

أرسلتُ له خطاباً ولم يرد

[لم تكن الأجهزة الخلوية قد درجت بعد]

أرسلت له عتاباً مع صديق

فعاد قائلاً: لم أجده

قالوا لي إنه ذهب “ليناسب” شخصاً آخر

دار الوقت مثل طاحونةٍ هوائيةٍ في يوم ريح

ورأيتُهُ مصادفةً

ضريراً على حافة الطريق

ينظر إلى “الأوقات المناسبة” وهي تمر

وضعت يدي على كتفه مشفقاً

وقد زال حقدي القديم

“لماذا لم تأتِ إلى موعدنا”

تحسس يدي، عرفني

أجاب: لم يكن “الوقت مناسباً”

Khaled Juma is a prominent Palestinian poet, children’s author, journalist, and editor. Born in Rafah, he grew up in Shaboura Camp in the southern Gaza Strip after his parents were displaced from Hatta to al-Majdal. Throughout his career, Juma has written traditional poetry, free verse, colloquial songs, musical plays, children’s stories, and short stories. He has authored over one hundred songs in collaboration with renowned Palestinian composers such as Saeed Murad, Awda Tarjuman, and Mahmoud Al-Abadi. Juma published his first poetry collection, Rafah: Alphabet, Distance, and Memory, with Osman Hussein in 1992. This was followed by ten additional poetry collections, the latest being My Aunt, The Phoenix in 2024, more than twenty children’s books, and numerous plays. His works have been translated into English, French, Spanish, Bulgarian, and other languages. Currently residing in Ramallah, Khaled Juma serves as the Head of the Cultural Department at the Palestinian News and Information Agency (WAFA).

Zainab Al Qaisi holds a PhD in English Literature from The University of Jordan, with a dissertation titled “Mapping Resistance in Palestinian American Poetry: Cartographies of Postmemory and Thirdspace.” She is a literary translator and editor, serving as Editor at Large at Wasafiri (cohort 2022-2025). Zainab is the founder and CEO of two startups: Al Nqsh LTD (2020) for Reviews of Children’s and Young Adults Books in Arabic, and The Writing Room (@kitabaroom) (2021) a contemporary cultural and literary project and platform. Al Qaisi is an academic researcher and critic interested in literary and cultural studies, as well as comparative studies in Human Geography, Archives, Memory Studies, Spatial Studies, and Decolonial Theories.