Under A Strange Sky

Translated by Stephen Watts and Marga Burgui-Artajo

A difficult balance
dividing yourself between two women
two countries
of police & pineapples, date-palms & data
Between the two you cling to a bottle
in a tavern crawling with cockroaches
Once you had the words & path to the palms ...
Where did they come from with their walls ?
You turned aside to look at
the light of distant masts
rising & falling
between out-breath & in
............
............
A bitter balance
to remain as you are
tossed on the sands
outlining a horizon, then wiping it away
A flash of lightning and removing it
the sky nearby more agreeable
the far sky ... more radiant
But the boots of the royal guard
will bar you from the zone of nostalgias that
twine between the blossoms of your heart
& the window
............
............
A difficult balance
exchanging a dream for an illusion
one woman .... for another
an exile for an exile
And I say to you :
where is the path !?

Amman 11th January 1994