Poems
Garden Statues
by Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi
Between the last night
and the first night...
a lake of tranquility...
.... ....
Leave that glass of memory to memory -
let its essence transmute all these nights into gold
Leave the voice of Ali Farka Toure
soaring
through the silvered light of that room,
a room inlaid with the jewels of minutes and hours
Leave your hands lost in the fleeting characters of a
keyboard
Leave that wooden rocking-horse
the old teddy-bear propped on a chair
the neighbouring gardens
Leave the sun still toying with the sky at eight in the evening
Leave the window open
on a morning arrayed with morning
Leave that flower labouring to consume you
Leave the peacock emblazoned on a field of beauty
Leave.... .... ....
Whatever little time is left
will never return...
These jewels cannot return
Thirst will not be slaked by the distant glimpse of a sail
And when you left
you were burnished,
you were consumed and yet complete,
you were fashioned from mother-of-pearl
Then, suddenly, once again,
you were downcast in clay
Weekdays returned, empty handed
Routine returned
And silence reigned
London 5th April, 2006
The original version of this poem is written in Arabic. The literal translation of this poem was made by Sabry Hafez. The final translated version of the poem is by Sarah Maguire.
The most recent images featuring this poem are:
Other poems by Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi that we have helped to translate are Poem of the Nile, Dream, Weaving a World, A Monkey at the Window, Breathless, Song, Small Fox, In the Company of Michelangelo, Everything and Horizon.
You can find out more about the translation process on this website. You can also add your own comments on this poem here.
We have media featuring the poet Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi. Additionally there are details available about New recordings and photographs from the 2008 World Poets' Tour , another one of our events that Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi was involved in.
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