Soleïman Adel Guémar
False departure
1
must I eat great mouthfuls of dust
again—standing in for you—
in order to tell those masks
of absence and ugliness
cradled by sluts and marvels
what they don’t want to hear
or go away—but where to?—
in order to put an end
to your cat-startled poses
to be made numb for ever
2
I’m going away to where the sun
shines less gently than here
but the very greyness tunes
the strings of sad guitars
born under the wandering star
damned to the end of time
for having committed dreams
deep in overcrowded dead-ends
tell me to wait a little longer…
all it needed was a No
to the high officials
in the watchtowers above!
3
act as if everything was possible
for the child who used to wish
that Algiers would be the loveliest
of all the brides
must I eat great mouthfuls of dust
again—standing in for you—
in order to tell those masks
of absence and ugliness
cradled by sluts and marvels
what they don’t want to hear
or go away—but where to?—
in order to put an end
to your cat-startled poses
to be made numb for ever
2
I’m going away to where the sun
shines less gently than here
but the very greyness tunes
the strings of sad guitars
born under the wandering star
damned to the end of time
for having committed dreams
deep in overcrowded dead-ends
tell me to wait a little longer…
all it needed was a No
to the high officials
in the watchtowers above!
3
act as if everything was possible
for the child who used to wish
that Algiers would be the loveliest
of all the brides
Translated by John Goodby
Page(s) 41
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