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 excerpts of a poem by Syrian poet Nizar Qabbani. “The Savage Poem” was turned into a song by Iraqi artist Qadim Al Saher, who formed a partnership with Qabbani and continued to sing his lyrics after his death in 1998.
The savage poem
Love me without my complexes
And be lost in the lines on the palm of my hand
Love me… For a week… For days… For hours
I am not one to care about eternity
I am November… The month of wind
And rain… And cold.
I am November so be crushed
On my body like a lightning bolt
Love me…
With all the savagery of the Mongols*
With all the heat of the jungle
With all the fierceness of the rain…
And do not leave anything behind
Do not become ever civilized
For the civilization of humans
Has crumbled on your lips
Love me… And do not wonder how,
Do not stutter with timidity,
And do not collapse with fear.
Be the sea and the port
Be the homeland and the exile
Be the sunshine and the hurricane
Be the softness and the violence
Love me with a thousand and a thousand styles
And do not reoccur like the summer
I hate the summer
Love me… and declare it
I refuse that you love me with no voice
And I refuse to bury love
In a tomb of silence
Love me…
Away from the land of oppression and frustration…
Away from our city that has had enough death…
Away from our extremism…
Away from our rigidity…
Love me…
Away from our city…
Love me…
With my purity or flaws
In my wakefulness or slumber
And cover me
Like a ceiling of flowers…
Like forests of henna…
Undress…
And fall like rain on my thirst and sahara…
And melt like a candle in my mouth
And mold yourself in my particles
Undress and split my lips in two halves
Like Moses in Sinai
*The Mongols, led by Genghis Khan, conducted a ruthless military campaign and conquered parts of Europe and the Middle East in the 13th Century.
— Translated by Ali Harb
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