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 Nizar Qabbani.
I love the birds of October
The diaries…
I love to be lost, like the birds of October…
From time to time…
I want to search for a new country
that is not inhibited,
and a god that doesn’t chase me,
and a land that does shun me.
I want to escape from my skin,
and my voice…
and my language,
and go astray like the smell of gardens
I want to escape from my shadow,
and flee the titles…
I want to escape from the Orient of fiction and snakes…
from the Caliphs…
and the Emirs…
and from all the Sultans…
I want to love like the birds of October…
Oh Orient of hanging ropes and knives…
And Emirs…
From all the Sultans…
I want to love like the birds of October…
Oh Orient of hanging ropes and knives…
— Translated by Ali Harb
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