MOAEN SHALABIA

I Did Not Know Her Before

I did not know her before the last war; nevertheless
her whining letters trembled in my ears, 
but as I cast my eyes upon her poor body, I saw the first
goddess of beauty, carrying the night between her head
and her neck, 
and on her bare chest, two ivory pomegranates,
and behind her heart, there are walls, darkness, silence,
and blood on the horizon.
She was neither alive nor dead, wild and lonely is the place,
I witnessed in her, the absence of spirit and body, 
torn and naked without a homeland, 
I spoke to her unabashed, with passion and loyalty: 
I will hold your crying face, your moaning eyes,
together in the moment of justice.
I saw a warm tear in the night of fear and shiver, 
and her dreamy eyelids adored the birds of lightning and thunder,
I said: 
Come to me how you are my woman;
The rape of a woman is the rape of homeland,
no difference between the two flags,
The rapists are like the deadly occupiers; they are dead,
but came back again

Night And Wine And Woman

Far away from the war
my wooden home
has two windows opened to their limits
and shadow of a woman inflaming the distance
I look upon the sea on the wake of the evening
and upon a glass of wine 
stirring the echoes.
Far away from the war
my wooden home has the smell of dew
and the shape of a soul in the palm of a blur
in our wooden home, there is an aged jar
and a thirsty butterfly haunting me
into the futility of speech.
It is you?
and for a while, I've been looking in you for my death
here you are, and this taste is monstrous
exploding in me a volcano
and inflaming in me my sails.
Here you are
and in your eyes a storm of drunkenness
oh, you hug and burn and fill and spill me
wine over my crematorium
so don't ever change and be oh a woman
destroying all my kingdom
and embrace me as a bottle
that danced on the belt of a storm
thus, the flame of its wine burns me into poetry
for an ultimate heat and a bottle of Kamasutra
cover all my questions...!!

Translated From Arabic To English By: Dr. Nazih Kassis

Before I Forget, Write Me Down

O my lady
Before I forget, write me down   
a lover like a river that loves jasmine
and raise me a flag over the mountains
then behind the sea fire and embrace me
don't be afraid of how life has passed
without my years have passed.
Before I forget write me down  
dreaming over the ruins of nostalgia
so, hold me a kiss on the lips
then warmth over the chest and have mercy on me
don't tell us how narrow the road is for us
after my eyelids melted
do not fear how the heart shed embers
 before my arts speak
write me a story for the people, keep it secret
my eyes exposed my story
my story is silent from sorrows
If my madness, tell it at night
remember me before we leave
beloved for thousands of years
he loves homelands and people
like the sad moon.
Before I forget, write me down 
love rain like the land
all the tears that hugged me traveled
and I was alone under the bored grille
so, excuse me if the dream collapses one day
and we carried travel tissues
and we drank a cup of sadness
from springs and dreams of numbness
don't say how we left the moon
I stole the fire, my lady
and I left my heart to humans' peace.

Translated From Arabic To English By: Dr. Nazih Kassis

MOAEN SHALABIA, Born on 14 October 1958 in Maghar town – In the sea of Galilee region. Palestinian poet, One of the Arab Palestinian national minorities in Israel. Finished his studies at Haifa University. Poet and prose writer, his writing career began in 1973, he published his poems in national local newspapers and Arabic papers abroad. He published seven poetry books and three prose. His first-born was the first book of poetry in 1989. He participated in many local and international festivals around the world. He was awarded by the “Arab intellectual’s forum” – Jerusalem Al-Quds). Besides, he has received many appreciations certificates a member of the union of Arab writers and the movement of world poets (Poetas del Mundo), and a Member of Mahmoud Darwish Foundation for Creativity. His literary production was discussed and criticized in universities and many sessions in the homeland and abroad. Some of his poems were translated into many languages, like French, Turkish, English, Romanian, Polish, Macedonian, Italian, Hebrew, Bosnian, Albanian, Croatian, Russian, Portuguese, Serbian, and Bahasa Malaysia language. His collection of poems was included in the national and international anthologies. He won the prize of pest poetry at the international poetry festival / Tetova – Macedonia / Albania. He recently won the big prize of the “Arab Writers Union” for poetry.