Poems

Passing Cloud

Oh setting sunlight
who slips away
in the dwindling light of late afternoon
and goes in to the hole,
Hey are you a coward?
What is the hurry/rush? [the word here refers to a horse running on its own]
 
 
Is it the coming and going(?)
of the little spears which shine
[or] an ambusher in front of you and
news, sent to you from the house you would spend the night in,
which has burnt you?
 
 
Or [is it] this girl which looks like the head of a raining cloud,
the gu' season--which lifted the shawl--
an afternoon cumulus cloud.
When you glanced at each other in the afternoon
your bulb [i.e. glow] weakened / shrank;
and is the retreat out of fear? [i.e. a fear that the beauty of the girl is greater]
 
 
Or is it disappointment
and you saying to yourself “Inform the moon which would [otherwise] miss out [on being able to deal with the greater beauty]” before it's time [for it to rise], of what you faced in the afternoon [galabta!!]
 
 
The turning over of the waves
with the graceful arm movement of a beautiful woman,
the slow march of the gracefully swinging arms
to which elegance is special, [i.e. elegance is particular to this movement]
your sides (goonyo) which swayed
and the ranks of the clouds
which are all around you
and which you hit on the chest with the bullets you let loose and the well aimed arrows
and which turned red
with drops of blood and
the multicoloured cloud (cirrus?)
which was dyed on the surface;
what reduced their “Shoulder arms!” today? [i.e. what reduced the honour of the clouds around the setting sun which normally reflect the glory of the sun; here they're likened to an army the sun commands; the references to the bullets and arrows seem a little incongruous, but anything goes in poetry]
Did they go on strike / grieve for you [giriif = shoobbare but English!]
 
 
Or was what stopped them
the prestige of Gobaad [name given to the girl]
and the missiles of love;
the love which is a kernel
which her eyes are launching
 
 
Afartaa siddiri gam [These two lines are a dhextaal 45 would paraphrase as something like 'be that as it may'.
What I still recall:
 
 
is that one(fem.) [i.e. that girl]
with a loosely tied dress and light overcloth [gareys]
gathering ripe fruit,
who was not expecting to see a male, [lit. someone eligible to marry her]
whom the wind, which was stirred up
and which understood my belly-insides, [i.e. my feelings]
suddenly took
such that it revealed the [i.e. her] side, front and chest;
And [I remember] the tying/fastening of the cloth
which she quickly covered herself with
and the modest dodging / backing away,
the animal head which she hung down,
the shyness of virginity.