Thursday, September 23, 2004

Something about Happiness by Iraqi poet `Abdul-Wahab Al-Bayyati (my translation):
They lied, happiness,
oh, Muhammad
cannot be sold
Newspapers have written
that the sky rained frogs
last night
Oh, my friend
they stole happiness
from you
They deceived you
They tortured you
They crucified you
with the ropes of words
To say that you died
to sell you a place in the sky
Oh, what is the value of crying
I am ashamed Muhammad
Frogs have stolen happiness
from us
And I am heading
toward the sun despite
the suffering
They planted daggers
in the night, and dogs
****
The ceiling of the night
is crashing on them
So rebel!
Oh, Muhammad!
So rebel!
And beware of treason.