“Nothing could be more befitting than Kushājim’s epigrammatic riddles.”
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‘Here Comes the Ripper’
“Lion’s fangs glimmer / You smile in return, but / Here comes the ripper”
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Arabic Translation Challenge: If You See His Fangs Bared …
إذا رَأيْتَ نُيُوبَ اللّيْثِ بارِزَةً * فَلا تَظُنّنّ أنّ اللّيْثَ يَبْتَسِمُ
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‘Fee for a Feline’
“I see people / getting beautiful / day after day / but just not you.
Like a kitten / you only mean anything / when you’re young /you know that’s true.”
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Arabic Translation Challenge: ‘You’ve Aged Like a Cat!’
“I saw everyone getting lovelier, day by day, / and you, becoming less so! / Like a cat that fetches a high price in its youth, / and which, when it ages, goes for cheap.”
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‘No Way But The Way’
“It’s heart-warming to see Sargon’s voice transmogrify in so many ways and across four languages.”
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Arabic Translation Challenge: ‘An Angel Appears’
“The beginning, we choose. / But the end chooses us. / And there is no road but the road.”
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‘Avarice and Fury’
spotted lion, tense/
tired of lockdown/
take the cheetah hunting?/
wait and pine/
Arabic Translation Challenge #4: ‘Like a Lion with Spots’
“Abu Nuwas’s answer to The Tiger King.”
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