THE POLITICAL POETRY OF NIZAR QABBANI A CRITICAL STUDY AND TRANSLATION by ABDULLAH A-M. A. AL-SHAHHAM A thesis submitted for the Degree of Ph. D UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH Department of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies July 1989 TRANSLATION ANI? TEXT iii NOTE ON THE SYSTEK OF TRANSLATION In any kind of literary translation, particularly that of poetry, the aim of the translator must be to produce an English version which is in fluent English, which reproduces the original intentions of the poet and, it is to be hoped, produces something of the same emotional impact of the original. Since Nizär Qabbäni's language is generally fairly simple, it has usually been possible to translate him quite literally. Occasionally, however, his words have had to be paraphrased, or lines rearranged to meet with the different demands of English grammar. Nevertheless we believe that we have at all times been faithful to his original intentions. iv c1) iHF7S NOTE ON THE 3S EY. OF TRANSLATION iii ...................................... 1 EXFLANATl3N TO THE READERS OF MY POETRY 1 ........................ 2 BREAD, HASHISH AND MOON 5 ........................................ 3 THE STORY OF RACHEL SCHV'ARTZENBJRG 16 ............................. 4 LETTER OF A SOLDIER ON THE SUEZ FRONT .......................... 28 5 JAYILA BU HAYRAD ............................................... 36 6 LOVE AND FE: 'ROL ................................................ 44 7 FOOTNOTES TO THE NOTEBOOK OF THE SETBACK ....................... 52 8 THE ACTORS ..................................................... 80 9 TH.E IfiTE: ROGA: ION .............................................. 100 10 FATH ........................................................... 114 11 POETS OF THE OCCUPIED LAND ............................ ......... 124 12 JERUSALEM ...................................................... 133 13 FitA'I FROCLAMA:IONS ON THE WALLS OF ISRAEL .................... 137 14 wEt'DIIG FEAST OF PALESTINIAN HORSES ............................ 169 15 INVITATION TO THE FIFTH OF JUNE TO SPEND A SUYJER HOLIDAY ...... 176 16 CONVERSATIONWITH AN ARAB WHOHAS LOST HIS HORSE ............... 182 17 A CiIKE OF HONOURBEFORE ARAB COURTS .................. ......... 192 i8 THE GOVERNORAND THE SPARROW ....................... ............ 206 is THE FILL ....................................................... 210 20 THE S: EEC . ..................................................... 220 V 21 w'A1T: N., F.ßä GQJJT 238 ............................................. 22 MJE:PH 111; 254 ....................................................... 23 rEC: -ATION OVER MADMEN'S TOMBS 256 ................................. 24 CONVERSA- Oh ITH THE KI NG OF THE MONGOLS 266 . ...................... 25 TO THE Cýh::NOwl; ARAB SOLDIER 270 .................................... 26 ONE ROAD ....................................................... 274 I- "''EIUM BURGLARS 278 ................................................ 28 NON-CLASSICAL DEFINITION OF THE COUNTRY ........................ 279 29 PERSONAL ADDRESS TO THE MONTH OF JUNE .......................... 281 30 A POEM OF APOLOGY TO ABU TAMM.AM ................................ 283 31 A! 1ALý1'4Rý Iýý^Nýi. ý? .................................. 293 32 THE FOURTH PYRAMID ............................................. 304 33 LETTER, TO AlC. )4Psb i41,, -. NA5. ß.Z 310 -M-P ....................... 34 TO HIM ON HIS BIRTHDAY ......................................... 318 35 STATEMENT BEFORE THE COURT OF JUSTICE OF POETRY ................ 327 36 FROM THE DIARY OF A DAMASCENE LOVER ............................ 348 37 GOLD INLAY ON A DAMASCENESV'ORD ................................ 357 38 OBSErVATiO S iN A TIME OF LOVE AND WAR ......................... 374 39 EVOLUTiONAri CONVERSATION WITH TARA HUSAYN r^. .................... 396 40 DECPPEEFOR THE DISMISSAL OF YHALID B. AL-VALID ................. 410 41 DAMASCUS FOLK-SONGS TO 1E MOON OF BAGHDAD ..................... 423 42 L,AYASCUS FOLK-SONG ............................................. 439 4lw -A, -.. DAD! FOIK-SONG ............................................. 443 44 :. A: I ES ': ............................................. 447 vi 45 SPANISH PAPERS ....................... 461 473 46 SORROWS IN ANDALUSIA ................. 47 GRANADA 481 .............................. 48 0 QUEEN OF THE WORLD, 0 BEIRUT....... 487 49 SEVEN LETTERS LOST IN THE BEIRUT MAIL 503 50 BEIRUT YOUR MISTRESS - BEIRUT MY 522 BELOVED .............................. 51 TO THE WOMAN BEIRUT, WITH AN APOLOGY. 536 52 BEIRUT BURNS - AND I LOVE YOU........ 540 53 I AM TIRED, MY FRIEND, OF BEING AN ARAB 564 54 QASIDAT BILQIS ....................... 581 55 THE CHILDREN OF THE STONES........... 630 56 THE ANGRY ONES ....................... 634 57 AN HONORARY DEGREE IN THE CHEMISTRY OF STONES ............................... 638 1 1. EXPLANATION TO THE READERS OF NY POETRY Foolish people say of me That I have gone into women's private quarters, and not come out. They demand that a gallows be set up for me Because I have beloved. written poetry about my r Cý; ý I have not traded - like others - in hashish, Have not stolen, Or killed ... -. .. J YI "F ý ý... , ,,., 2 But I have loved in open daylight; Do you think I have renounced my faith? t*4 Foolish people say of me 6e. GW That in my poems I have Pe. &> the teaching of Heaven. Who says that love is an attack upon the honour of Heaven? Heaven is my friend - It weeps when I weep, And laughs when I laugh. Ll 000 Sr1 ýl ýl, L ýJ4: ý 11 jr, `1.._, ý-? ý; ' c cS)ý ' X31 L, äº Ui vl JU ýý. 1; alt j. u , oý ý. v! 1ý.,. z .. ý`. ý 3 And its stars shine more brightly If one day I fall in love. What of it, if I sing the name of my beloved And plant her in every capital city Like a forest of chestnuts? ff I shall continue to make a practise of love Like all the prophets. I shall continue to make a practise of childhood, innocence And purity, 0 .0 .09 .01 Jj Z.-. O 0 v jv-I t "c ý1ýe1ý11 4 I shall continue to write about my beloved's concerns Until I melt her golden hair in the gold of evening, While I am - and I hope I shall remain the same - A child scribbling as he wishes on the wallrof the stars Until love in my country becomes like the air And I become a dictionary for students of love And become, on their lips, An A and a B. J "0 "i" 1,l LaS Ii I- Ui _ t'' j>J c3 c5ylI f ýLý l_... c11 ... 5 I When the moon is born in the East And the white roofs doze Beneath piles of flowers The people leave the shops, and go in droves To meet the moon, ýý 1 1I , -ýI LiJ.!. i alp., G.L: t ; lýylýJ 6 Carrying bread and gramophones to the top of the mountains And equipment for drug-taking And sell and buy fantasy And images, And die when the moon lives. _ . 7 II What is it that a disc of light Does to my country? To the country of the prophets And the country of the simple people Chewers of tobacco, and traders in drugs? i JJ1. " `t 433 .. ) g- Y :ý t 3 L-uI ýýyý 8 What is it that the moon does among us So that we lose our pride And live to implore Heaven? What is it that Heaven has For lazy, weak people Who turn into dead men when the moon lives " I; i 'a. 0LJI i .. 0 Ul. And shake the saints' graves In the hope that they will give them rice, and children, The saints' graves, And spread elegantly-knotted carpets Consoling themselves with an opium which we call fate And destiny In my country. In the country of the simple people? 99 00, J00J %, As. 0., -li F j nki: ýý 10 III What weakness and decadence Overcomes us when the light gushes So that carpets, thousands of baskets Cups of tea And children Occupy the hills In my country Where the naive people weep And live in the light which they do not see r "ds 1. Lp (.ý lug i k 11 In ny country Where people live without eyes Where the naive people weep Pray Fornicate And live in reliance on God Since they first existed Living in reliance on God L ., a z 12 And call upon the crescent moon, "0 crescent, 0 spring which rains diamonds Hashish and drowsiness 0 marble, suspended Lord 0 unbelievable thing May you remain, for the East, for us, A bunch of diamonds For the millions in whom the senses have ceased to function". J->ul-U:J3ýj y{ "I, I' cß- .1ß. t11I tJ lý, .. _u Jac 13 Iv In the nights of the East, when the full moon reaches completion The East is denuded of all nobility And struggle And the millions who run without shoes And believe in four wives And the Day of Resurrection, The millions who do not meet with bread, except in fantasy, And who dwell at night in houses of coughing Never having known what medicine looks like Fall down like corpses beneath the light. t 4-'' V cJ' car" 1"J L$ J JL 10 .0 ýI tlº `J lý I. .. j. 1c ýI i E. t a L 14 In my country, where the foolish people weep And die of weeping Whenever the face of the crescent moon appears before them And weep even more Whenever they are moved by a lowly lute, and "LayEll That death which we call in the East "Layäli", and singing. JAI ti 0 0J1,. 5.9 . ,. U-9 0 0` ill ý.! .. (jv f41 Li , ec.-u . vý11 ul 'A type of modern Arab song describing the sufferings of lovers in the night. Among the best known is Umm Kulthiim's w hßä Layl. 15 In my country, the country of the simple people Where we ruminate over long tawisb' That consumption which kills the East, the long tawashih, Our East, which ruminates over history, idle dreams And empty legends Our East, which looks for every heroism In Ab; Zayd2 al-H11ä11. 'aýºlzJý =ý) v5.11 J:. JI . .. -'; '- %ýof v. t: l 'Reiigious poems recited by groups of people on such occasions as Laylat al-Oadr, the birth the Prophet of and the beginning of the Islamic year. They are composed in a stanzaic form similar to that of the Andalusian muwashshahät. -Hero the of popular verse epic entitled Sirat Abi. Zayd al-HilälI, and symbol of Arab valour and victory. :,, AL 16 3.