ترجمات أدبية

We deceive our times 

Ibrahim Alsaafin

Translated by Nizar Saratwi

***

We deceive our times 

We travel through silence 

Light take us unawares

As we, unprepared, embark on a trek

that might go on forever

The ritual of speaking, they say, is akin to silence

The waves rise above the vessels

but nothing is there to protect us

Stillness is the frost of the night

The devotees are shrouded by the attire of darkness

We’re stolen away by the dream

Trouble lies in ambush in the last

passage

With vague words we deceive our times

The path of the clouds is hidden from our eyes

Speaking, we say, is akin to glass

that has been shattered   

in the blazing heat of the sun,

bounced back and caused the eye to bleed

Nothing is left in the soul but gloom

The men say: Come ye to the bank of confession

that we may narrate what the tales have told

since we lost the road

and wandered aimlessly 

The noble men were gone and so were we

and the death guide took the lead 

*** 

نُخاتلُ أوقاتَنا

د. إبراهيم السعافين

نُخاتلُ أوقاتَنا

نسافرُ في الصّمتِ

يفجؤنا الضّوءُ

في رحلةٍ لمْ نُعِدّ لها

قد تطولُ

يقولون: كالصّمتِ طقسُ الكلامْ

ويرتفعُ الموجُ فوقَ المراكبِ

لا شَيْءَ يحرسُنا،

والسّكونُ صقيعُ اللّيالي

وسترُ المريدين ثوبُ الظلامْ

ويسرقنا الحلْمُ،

والهمُّ يرصدنا في الممرّ

الأخيرِ

نُخاتلُ أوقاتَنا بالكلامِ المعمّى

ولا نستبينُ مسارَ الغَمامْ

نقولُ كأنّ الكلامَ زجاجٌ تكسّر

في وَقْدَةِ الشّمسِ

وارتّدّ في العيْنِ يُدمي

ولا شَيْءَ في الرّوحِ إلّا القتامْ

يقول الرّجالُ: تَعالوْا إلى ضفّةِ البوْحِ

نسردُ ما قَدْ روتْهُ الحكاياتُ منذُ ضللْنا

الطّريقَ وتُهْنا

وغابَ السّراةُ وغِبْنا،

وأَضْحى دليلُ المنايا الإمامْ

***

Ibrahim Alsaafin, a Jordanian poet, critic essayist, novelist, playwright, and academician, received his PhD from Cairo University in Arabic literature in 1978. After graduation he worked at different universities, including Yarmouk university (Jordan), the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (USA), King Saud University (Saudi Arabia), UAE University (UAE), and Sharjah University (UAE). Currently he is a professor of modern Arabic literature and criticism at university of Jordan. He also serves as a chair and member of numerous editorial boards, a member of the board of trustees at several universities and cultural institutions, and a member of the Jordan academy of Arabic.

Alsaafin has to his credit six collections of poetry, two plays, and two novels, as well as a few unpublished MS’s. He also has penned 35 books of literary studies and literary criticism, and hundreds of literary articles published in prestigious literary journals in different Arab countries. Moreover, he has supervised more than a hundred M.A theses and Ph.D. dissertations in Jordanian and Arab universities.

  Alsaafin has received several literary awards, including Jordan State Award (1993), King Faisal International Prize (2001), and Palestine State Award for Literature (2020).