As a part of its continuing effort to share a portion of the literary wealth of Arabic poetry with the English reader, The Arab American News translates a poem by Syrian poet, journalist and playwright Muhammad al-Maghut.

I do not want to be filthy, or sterile.

Each case has its consequences.

In villages, parents tell the misbehaving or lazy child:

You have to run to catch your bread.

I did not know

that my bread would enter the famous “Derby” race.

Sometimes, silence is better than the music of the world. 

What song to you want?

And on what rhythm?

All I have is the drumming of my fingers

on the back of empty plates,

and the helmets of unknown martyrs

And what dance do you want?

Tango?

I might make you sick 

with my coughing and cold.

I am an old smoker 

and my mouth is the top of a volcano.

The dance of gypsies?

I might discover your misfortune

in the throwing of dice

between snakes and scorpions

and the daily stolen goods of the family.

The dance of the sea?

We are alone in the safety boat.

Why would we turn the sea’s eyes to us?

The dance of the peacock?

Has the Shah of Iran left any of them?

After he served his guests

in one of his imperial parties

a thousand hearts of peacocks

as appetizers.

Waltz?

It would draw near

and we would become far from each other,

waving our handkerchiefs,

as if each of us is traveling in a different train,

and this takes sighing and expenses.

Samba?

My body is soft and flexible 

like Gene Kelly 

in his famous dance, under the water.

But what would I do with this sudden crippleness.

I am not Lord Byron to go to war

to hide.

The dance of war?

Anything but that…

For its accessories and needs are costly.

Swords, shields, medals, poets, singers,

how would I afford it?

And I carry seven consecutive defeats on my back,

and the expenses of its orphans and widows?

Then let’s dance!

Be crazy!

Let’s do anything unfathomable.

– Even Beckett has become classic and reactionary these days.

– Then let’s commit suicide

– Suicide is Haram (religiously forbidden)

– Is misery permitted?