Feb 5, 2015

Imprisoned Poet Ashraf Fayadh’s ‘Frida Kahlo’s Mustache’

Palestinian poet Ashraf Fayadh has now gone more than a year without trial in Saudi prisons on the ostensible charge that he’s been “insulting the Godly self” through his poetry, as well as “having long hair”. Poet and activist Mona Kareem has translated one of Fayadh’s poems, posted online on Laghoo.

Frida Kahlo’s Mustache
By Ashraf Fayadh, trans. Mona Kareem

I will ignore the smell of mud, and the need to reprimand the rain, and the burn that has long since settled in my chest.
I am looking for fitting consolation for my situation, which doesn’t allow me to interpret your lips however I wish
Or to brush away the drops of mist from your reddish petals
Or to ratchet down the level of obsession that overtakes me when I realize you are not beside me at the moment.


And will not be… When I am forced to justify my position to the punishing silence of the night.
Just act as if the earth is silent, as we see it from a distance, and that everything that’s happened between us was not more than a bad joke that’s gone too far!
#
What do you think of the days I spent without you?
About the words that evaporated so quickly from my heavy pain?
About the knots that were deposited in my chest like dried algae?
I forgot to tell you that I’ve grown used to your absence (technically speaking)
And that wishes lose their way to your desires
And my memory is being eroded.
That I am still chasing the light, not to see, but because darkness is scary…even if we get used to it!
Would my apology be enough? For everything that has happened while I tried to make up good excuses.
#
For every time jealousy was aroused in my chest,
For every time despair ruined a new day of my dark days,
For every time I said Justice would get menstrual cramps and Love was a feeble-minded man in the autumn of his age with erectile dysfunction!
#
I will have to sidestep my memory
And claim that I sleep well.
I’ve got to tear out the questions
That have come looking for a rationale, to get convincing answers.
The questions that, for very personal reasons, have come after the fall of the usual punctuation.
#
Let the mirror explain how beautiful you are!
Remove your dusty pile of words, breathe deeply.
Remember how much I loved you, and how the whole thing turned into an electric shock that could have caused a huge fire…in an empty warehouse!

For the last year, poet Ashraf Fayadh has been detained in the Saudi city of Abha without clear legal charges beyond having “ideas that do not suit the Saudi society,” based on a reader’s complaint about Fayadh’s 2008 poetry collection, Instructions Within.

* The Arabic Literature in English Blog




1 comment:

  1. Nepali Translation of this poem by Chandra Gurung

    फ्रीडा काहलोको जुँगा
    अशरफ फयाद


    म बेवास्ता गरिदिनेछु हिलोको दुर्गन्धलाई, वर्षालाई तर्साउनुपर्ने आवश्यकतालाई
    र, मेरो छातीभित्र लामो समयदेखि रहेको आगोलाई ।
    म आफ्नो हालको लागि सही राहत खोज्दैछु,
    जसले मलाई तिम्रो ओठबारे सोच्न दिँदैन, तर म चाहन्छु
    या म झार्न सकूँ तिम्रो रातो पत्रदलमा जमेको कुइरोको थोपो
    या झाँेकको गतिलाई गर्न सकूँ सुस्त जो फैलिन्छ ममाथि
    जब यो अनुभव हुन्छ कि
    तिमी छैनौं यस घडी मसित, र रहने छैनौं...
    जब मलाई आफ्नो स्थिति साबित गर्नको लागि
    विवश गरिन्छ रातको कातिल मौनताअघि
    नाटक गर कि धर्ती मौन छ, जस्तो कि टाढादेखि हेर्छौं हामी यसलाई
    र हामीबीच जे भयो त्यो लामो चलेको
    कुनै भद्दा मजाकभन्दा धेरै केही थिएन !


    तिमी के सोच्छौ ती दिनहरूबारे जुन मैले तिमीविना बिताएँ ?
    ती शब्दहरूका बारेमा जो मेरो भारी दुखाइबाट यत्ति चाँडै वाष्पित भए ?
    ती गाँठबारे जो मेरो छातीमा सुकेको लेउझैं जमेका थिए ?
    मैले तिमीलाई भन्न बिर्सें कि
    मलाई तिम्रो अनुपस्थितिको बानी परिसकेको छ (यान्त्रिकी रूपमा भन्नुपर्दा)
    र शुभकामनाहरूले तिम्रो इच्छाहरूको बाटो बिर्सिसके
    र मेरो स्मृतिलाई बिर्सिदिएको छ
    कि म अझै पनि गरिरहेछु उज्यालोको पिछा—
    हेर्नको लागि होइन, किनभने अँध्यारो खतरनाक छ
    हामीलाई यसको बानी परिहाल्ने पनि !
    के मेरो क्षमायाचनाले पुग्छ ?
    ती सबको लागि जो घटे त्यस दौरान जब म राम्रो बहाना गर्ने कोसिसमा रहेँ ।


    हरेकपटक ईष्र्या उठिरह्यो मेरो छातीमा
    हरेकपटक निराशाले मेरो अँध्यारो दिनहरूको एक नयाँ दिन बर्बाद ग¥यो
    हरेकपटक मैले भनेँ न्यायलाई हुनेछ महिनावारीको कष्ट
    र प्रेम आफ्नो ढलिरहेको उमेरमा एक कमजोर दिमागी मान्छे थियो
    जो नपुंसकताले ग्रस्त थियो ।


    मलाई आफ्नो स्मृतिहरूदेखि जोगिनुछ
    र घोषणा गर्नुछ कि म मस्त सुत्छु
    मैले ती प्रश्नहरूलाई च्यात्नैपर्नेछ
    जो खोज्दै आएका छन् तर्क, सटीक जवाफ पाउनका लागि
    ती प्रश्नहरू, थुप्रै निजी कारणहरूले स्वाभाविक विराम खसेपछि आएका हुन् ।


    ऐनालाई भन्न देऊ कि तिमी कत्ति सुन्दर छौ
    हटाऊ धुलो भरिएको आफ्नो शब्दहरूको थुप्रोलाई
    गहिरो सास लेऊ
    याद गर कत्ति माया गर्थें म तिमीलाई,
    अनि कसरी सबथोक फेरियो बिजुलीको एक झट्कामा
    जो हुनसक्थ्यो भयानक आगोको कारण
    ...एउटा खाली गोदाममा ।

    फ्रीडा काहलो प्रसिद्ध मेक्सिकन पेन्टर हुन्, जसले आफ्नो ‘सेल्फ प्रोट्रेट’मा जुँगा बनाएकी थिइन् ।
    अनुवाद ः चन्द्र गुरुङ

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