The following are translations of poems by the Omani poet Hilal Al Hajri (1968-) from his first collection titled: “Night Is Mine”, (Muscat: 2006):
1-
Al Wasil
My village, Al Wasil ,
Is a Trojan horse
Running without reins to Doomsday.
How could I even catch its tail,
I, the armless, with one foot in the mud
And the other drowned
By the vanity of knowledge?
2-
Abu Nuwas
From temple to tavern
Won’t you wait
Till Wodhu on your forehead dries?
Like a tear on the cheek,
Like the coyness dot,
On a virgin forehead
My steps take me towards
It
Without my knowing.
3-
Vanity
Shiny
Juicy
Bodies
Were created for nothing
But to be penetrated by -me-
Through the lightning of my eyes.
Shiny bodies
Arriving and departing
Leaving behind my heart
As sap for other bodies.
4-
Alone
He squeezes cans
Declaring their end
Like a god squeezing souls to their
Doom
And chews his loneliness
In classic fashion
Like a proficient prostitute.
The self-same who once thought
He’d swallowed all the wisdom tablets.
5
Seeking Shelter in Gloom
At the dead of night
I’m the one
Who sinks solo into bed
Like an orphan
Like a spear.
Oh God for anything
To cram my wasteland in
Even were it the size of the navel!
… Oh no my God
More gloom!
No tree
Could shelter me from this flood
Except for my long gloom!
6
Durham
In Durham
Temple of the saints
And postgraduates,
Every night
He returns alone
Proud of his sadness
Rejects a glance
Even to the pavement
Who’d shelter this desert man?
Will he nibble at his fingers
Or take the pillow as his sweetheart?
7-
Surrender
I’ll burn out tonight
Very early.
Nothing would seduce me
To wrestle tonight.
Off you go,
You the black giant
How could my little body
Resist your tyranny?
I left you for pimps and adulterers of the night
For spies and intellectuals
For brokers and worshippers
For all your old wrestlers!
I myself
Will leave and kiss
The first star in my village
And nap
Like an orphan child.
