Thursday, December 03, 2009

Marathon

Laila Neihoum

Translated by Lauren Shapiro

Another morning for the sleepy girls,

Benghazian journalists

tripping along dead streets

in night’s leftover darkness

in the echoes of windy dreams.

Their desks gather rime

from the nearby harbor

scattered by winter’s rain

their papers are pure ice

their seats confused frost

their breaths

their ideas

their writing

the remnants of sleep

nothing

nobody

Soul’s shiver waiting for them,

the years’ marathon approaching

slowly

stubbornly.

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From: IWP Translation Workshop Anthology 200 5 Iowa University

لقطة صباحية

ارى الصمت القابع في مكمن الفوتوغرافي

انفاسه الباطنية

تكتكة العدسة المحاذرة

العصافير تحط

على صحن البذور

وجلٌ من الوان متقافزة

وريش متأهب