Dialogue
By Mostafa Ibrahim
Translated by Abdelrahman ElGendy
(1)
The world whispered
to the boy in class:
“Either you trace
my lessons,
or live them. Forget
the blackboard.”
The photographer
told the man
with the camera:
“Either capture
the story,
or live it.
The frame is richer
than the picture.”
World, I write for the legions
to come. I snapshot the story
for someone
else.
(2)
The boy told his comrades
in the prison cell: “Kiss
the gun, embrace it, sleep.
Shame clings
to the living,
glory, to the dead.”
(3)
He spoke, then set
down his glass.
Absence is absence, but a friend’s
memory lingers. Today,
I’m here with you. Tomorrow,
I won’t be. The world’s always
a step ahead. I caught
myself laughing two days
ago, while you, my friend,
haven’t made it
one year under
the dirt. I dreamed
of the clock in the parlor,
its hands chipping
at you. I sifted
through pictures to revive
your face, but even your clothes
forgot your scent. I can’ t
tell if I fear forgetting
you, or if I fear tomorrow
I will be, too,
forgotten.
ديالوج
(١)
-قالت الدنيا للولد ف الفصل
يا تعيش بتكتب ورايا
ف الحصة يا تعيشها
إنسي إن فيه في الفصل سبورة
– قال المصور للي جاب الكاميرا
يا تعيش بتاخد صور للقصة
يا تعيشها
الكادر دايماً أغلي م الصورة
يا دنيا أنا بكتب للجاي بَعْديا
وانا جاي بعدي ألوف
وإن كنت بَاخُد صور للقصة مش ليّا
ف انا نفسي غيري يشوف
(٢)
قال الولد لرِفاقته ف المعتقل
بوسوا المسدس واحضنوه وناموا
العار لمن داموا
والمجد للّى إتقتل
(٣)
قال الكلام ده ثم حَط الكاس
“الغياب هو الغياب”
والذكرى ف قلوب الصحاب.. أبقى
أبقى النهارده معاكم بُكرة مش هَبقى
والدنيا سابقة بخطوة كل الناس
حتى أنا
قفشت نفسي من يومين بَضْحك
وانتا ما كمّلتش يا صاحبى ف التراب.. أول سَنة
وحِلمت بعديها بساعة الصالون
وبإن عقاربها أبتدت تاكلك
وإنى براجع م الصور شكلك
حتى هدومك نِسيت الريحة
ما اعرفش خايف أصدق.. إن أنا نسيتك
ولَّا إنى بُكرة مسيرى هتنسى.. زَيَّك؟
Mostafa Ibrahim is one of Egypt’s most prominent contemporary poets. Hailed by the late Ahmed Fouad Negm as his “heir to the throne of poetry,” Ibrahim is renowned for his groundbreaking colloquial Arabic poetry collections: Western Union: Haram Branch, Manifesto, and Al-Zaman. The winner of the Ahmed Fouad Negm Colloquial Poetry Award, English translations of Ibrahim’s poems appear or are forthcoming in Ploughshares, Literary Hub, and ArabLit.
Abdelrahman ElGendy is an Egyptian writer and translator from Cairo. He is the author of Huna, a memoir exploring the politics of dissent and erasure through the lens of his six-year political incarceration in Egypt, forthcoming from Hogarth, Penguin Random House. ElGendy’s work appears in The Washington Post, Foreign Policy, The Nation, Guernica, Mizna and elsewhere. His poetry and prose translations from Arabic appear or are forthcoming in Ploughshares, Poetry Northwest, Literary Hub, Words Without Borders, and elsewhere. His essays have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, Best American Essays, Best of the Net, and Best Literary Translations. The winner of the 2024 Samir Kassir Press Freedom Award, ElGendy is a 2024-25 Steinbeck Fellow at San Jose State University.