Land Of The Vineyards
Rahovec
O Rahovec
blessed
child of Dardania
to
you I came
with
my naïve poems
and
simple dreams.
And
there I was… in your bosom
as
my eyes wandered
among
the hills
and
vales
that
girded your slim waist
with
vineyards –
the
vineyards
where
the Maenads dwelt
and
turned every vine
into
a little shrine.
My
eyes fell
on
the hanging grapes
that
glittered like pearls
under
the September sun
And
there and then
I
found me drunken,
and
the whole world turning
before
my eyes
into
a giant poem
The Wind And The Olive
Tree
The
vengeful wind of autumn roared
threateningly
at
the olive tree:
“I’ve
come again
for
you old witch
I’ll
unravel your dark green dress,
stitch
by stitch
I’ll
break your limbs
I’ll
crush your bones
until
the skies hear your moans
I’ll
spill you blood
until
the dry dirt in these fields
turns
into mud.”
“I
know,”
replied the thick rough trunk,
“you
told me so
twelve
months ago.”
The Little Kumquat Shrub
Green
gorgeous child
standing
shyly
amidst
your tall proud sisters
and
cousins!
Loosen
your loin
sweetie!
Let
the moist soil
send
up
into
your veins
the
fluids of love
Spread
your soft limbs
Let
the August sun
toughen
your tender boughs
Let
his beams
polish
your leaves with light!
Open
your dainty white blossoms
Let
the bees
whisper
to them the secrets of life
For
soon you will be
a
little woman
with
emeralds green
waiting
for the fall
to
show their golden glory
Broken Olive
a
bleeding branch
of
a maimed
olive
tree
lying
beside
the
road
a
stranger
passing
by
asks:
WHY?
a
crowd
of
angry faces
shaking
in
dismay
four
men in a jeep
watching
silently
fingers
on the triggers
and
from above
a
lonely dove
spits
an
olive leaf
Nizar Sartawi
Nizar Sartawi is a poet, translator,
essayist, and columnist. He was born in Sarta, Palestine, in 1951. He is a
member of numerous literary and cultural organizations, including the Jordanian
Writers Association (Jordan), General Union of Palestinian Writers (Palestine),
and General Union of Arab Writers (Cairo), and Asian and African Writers Union.
He has participated in poetry readings and international forums and festivals
in numerous countries, including Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon, United Arab
Emirates, Morocco, Egypt, Kosovo, and India. Sartawi’s poems have been
translated into more than a dozen languages, including English, French, German,
Italian, Danish, Chinese, Persian, Urdu, Hindi, Tamil, Odia, Gujarati, and
Malayalam. His poetry has been published in more than 40 anthologies, in
addition to journals and newspapers, in Arab countries, the U.S., Australia,
Kosovo, Indonesia, Singapore, Bosnia, Italy, India, the Philippines, Russia,
Switzerland, and Taiwan. Sartawi has
published more than 25 books of poetry and poetry translations. He has written
introductions to a number of books in both Arabic and English. Sartawi was
awarded the first prize in translation by Al-Nour Literary Organization in
1913, and Naji Naaman Award for Creativity in 2017. For the last seven years,
Sartawi has been working on poetry translation from English to Arabic and
Arabic to English. This includes his Arabic poetry translation project, “Arab
Contemporary Poets Series”. He also has translated
poems for a large number of modern and contemporary international poets from
numerous countries of the world.