Today we offer three poems of Palestinian poet, Abdallah Abu Bakr.  They are translated into English by John Glenday and These are from “A Bird is not a Stone” edited by Henry Bell and Sarah Irving. Freight Books, Glasgow 2014

Flamenco

Deep in the heart of the dance
the dancer’s feet begin to sing
and she made that whole nation
with its empty heart dance with her.

The singer was calling out in Spanish
“They can never kill me! They can never kill me!”
The dance was really a battle, you see;
Hundreds of folk in that theatre were killed.

Trans. John Glenday

For Her Eyes

To the young woman from Damascus:
For your eyes
I chuck all my dreams in the river
I tear down speech from the sun
All the phrases of light it gives
I take back my fingers that boiled over the oud
Like vegetables in a pot
In my hand I hold the sand she walked on
And my longing to be made pure.

Trans. Henry King

A Haifa Prayer

I was on my way from Haifa to Haifa
That’s been my only road ever since I was a child.
I went down to the shoreline and paddled in the ocean
then dug a hole in the sand and buried my heart.
That way I knew for sure I would never forget her.
I gathered up Haifa sand and cleansed myself with it
because, God knows, I know precisely
how I should pray to God
and how I should worship her –
my Haifa

Trans. John Glenday