Poems

Please Don't Give Birth!

It was not foreseen
The day of my birth / the day I was born
And the breast that fed me
A barrel of forgetting
Spilled by the invaders
I throw myself on my shadow
To protect it from the (advancing) train
I turn in front of/before the spears
Like my ancestors’ … [missing word]
I wander on mountain tops/peaks – I wander on the summits
Barefoot on a coast
The mountains are my sea(s)
And the caves my seashells and my days
Now every tree hides/conceals
Under its … [missing word] a wall
As soon as I touch a tree
I am suddenly (trespassing)
On the property of others
And if I sit on a rock
Wings grow and it flies (away)
Where do I go
Where do I stagger/stumble
I who hangs like a plait/braid
That breaks the back of my beloved
Whereto
And behind me is god/allah on/in the minarets
Like a whip (coming down) on horseback
It was not foreseen
The day I was born
And the river that carried me
They buried it (in) an earth that yawns
As if eternal
I run (through) it without wings
Like water
If I evaporate I fly
If I fall (down) from the summits / if I drop from high
And break
I am purified / I become pure
Every time/ whenever I caress land
Its belly swells
Please do not give birth this time
To an Omani
Who asks me
How many years this century has lasted
And invites me to this festivals/festivities [plural of Eid]
To drink obedience in a cup
And above me
A balloon
An exclamation mark
Filling the sky.