For the next several Wednesdays, ArabLit will be running a series of poems by Somaya Elsousi, a Palestinian poet from Gaza who now lives in Norway. You can read more of her work at PEN/Opp.
The Seagulls are the Gateway of the Sea
By Somaya Elsousi
Translated by Ali Al-Jamri
Once upon a harbor
(as a storyteller said)
gathering her shells and waiting
watching ships that will not come
stepping fearfully over the cobbles
she is shaped by her shadow.
There is no shade for her
save for her shadow.
Her love guards her
love is the companion and the guide tugging the camel’s lead.
Swapping out fear for laughter
gathering stories in her small box
watching from a distance the details, start to end
of stories neglected by their owners
she organizes these fragments to complete herself:
lonely lovers rain down
with the melodies of departures
and rivers of desire.
Sweeping the doorway of her tale
spraying water perfumed by basil
shaping an emptiness, she is shaped by the emptiness
she grows by the lovers’ tales and beneath her they take shade.
Sorrowful as a single oar
its desires broken by the shore
she stares at the nets.
The sands kiss her
the wind burns her
the sound breaking with the waves lets her down.
Her mihrab is her spirit and her heart expands
To be with her, it is as if she is made of light and honey.
Vast is her extent
sweet, her melodies
healing, her glow.
She spreads out the strands of her silence
and relaxes in pain’s calm.
Confused between
her childhood
and the cry of the woman balling up in her chest
the naughty girl plays between the sentences
tiring herself out with the contrasting color and waiting’s aches.
You who runs from her to her—where will you hide?
What are you afraid of when
you have experienced life
the distances have bloodied you
and anxiety has shaped you?
The revelation
was our secret.
When it becomes fear
and the secret, too, becomes fear,
where do we find our escape then?
How unfair were you to the distances and the tale
and the lonely storyteller—
none will understand you but yourself
nothing will shade you save for your tree and single breeze.
Your loneliness is your destiny—well must you understand it.
We were a tale the storytellers did not know
our love sparking the night’s distances.
We wove our threads with the cleverness of amateurs
patch by patch
we braided our fear
feelings of absence
differences
pain.
Hand-in-hand we walked to the center of the distance
the distance was sinful
Our sins can endure the sins of the moment more than we can
We mounted one wave separated from the tide
No wind washes the face of the young girl from her fear
no hand holds her hand again
no tale for her to step over and light the last candle at the dance’s end.
Without a melody to spin her side
nor a song to illuminate the winds in her hair
she dances… dances…
alone, as in every dance
النوارس بوابة البحر
ذاتَ مرفأ أو كما قال راوٍ ، جَمَعَتْ أصدافها وانتظرت
تَرقبُ سفناً لن تأتي، تخطو بوجلٍ على حافة الطريق
يُشَكِلُها ظِلُّها ولا ظل لها سواه
يَحرسُها عِشقُها والعشق في رحلتِها الحادي والرفيق
تُبَدِلُ خوفها بضحكة
تَجمعُ الحكايات في صندوقها الصغير
تَرقبُ من بعيد تفاصيل أولى وأخيرة
لقصصٍ أهملَها أصحابها
تُرتبُ ما تخربش منها لتكتمل
تُمطرُ قصصاً من عشاق وحيدين
وألحانَ هجرٍ وأنهارَ رغبة
تَكْنسُ بوابة الحكاية
ترشُ ماء ًمعطراً بالرياحين
تشكلُ فراغاً ويُشكِّلُها الفراغ
تكبرُ بهم و بها يستظلون
.
حزينةٌ كمجدافٍ وحيدٍ كَسَّر الشاطئ رغبته
تُحدقُ بالشِبَاك
يلثُمها الرمل، تَحرِقُها الريح
تَكَسُّر الصوت على حافة الموج يخذِلُها
مِحرابها روحها وقلبها يتسع
.
الدخول إليها أول كل مرة وكأنها تخلقُ من نورٍ وعسل
شاسعٌ مداها ،عذبٌ لحنها، شافٍ بَريقُها
تَفردُ خُصلاتِ صَمتِها
ترتاحُ في سكون الألم
حائرةٌ بين طفولتها وأَنة الأنثى المتكورة في صدرها
تلهو بين العبارات شقيةٌ يُتعبُها اللون المغاير و وَجع الانتظار
يا من تركُضينَ منها إليها، إلي أين الهرب؟
.
مِمَ تخافينَ وقد عَرفتِ الدروب وأَدْمَتكِ المسافات
وشَكَّلَكِ القلق
البوحُ
كان سِرنا
وحين صار البوحُ خوفاً
والسرُ خَشيةً
لمن نهرب إذن؟
.
كم ظَلَمْتِ المسافةَ والحكايةَ
والراوي الوحيد
لن يفهَمَكِ سِواكِ
ولن تُظَلِّلُكِ غير شجرتكِ ونسمتكِ الوحيدة
وِحدَتُكِ قدركِ،افهميها كما يجب
.
كنا حكايةً لم يُدرِكها الرواة، أشعلَ عِشقُنا ليلَ المسافة
نَسجنا خيوطنا ببراعة هاوٍ
رقعة ًرقعة جَدَّلنا خوفَنا، وحشتَنا، اختلافَنا،وألمنا
خطونا يداً بيد إلى منتصف المسافة
كانت المسافة آثمة
وكان إثمنا أكثرَ احتمالاً منا لخطايا اللحظة
رَكِبنا موجةً واحدةً فرقَها المد
.
لا ريح تَغسلُ وجه الصبية من خوفٍها
لا يد تمسكُ يدها من جديد
لا حكاية تدوسها لتشعل الشمعة الأخيرة في نهاية الرقصة
بلا لحنٍ يَغزلُ خاصِرتَها
بلا نشيدٍ يشعلُ الهواء في شَعرِها
ترقص ……..ترقص
وَحدَها كما كل رقصة
Somaya Elsousi is a Palestinian poet from Gaza Palestine who currently lives in Norway as an ICORN writer. She has published five poetry collections: (ناي العتمة) (En flöjt av mörker), translated into Swedish by Hana Hallgren, Jenny Tunedal, and Anna Jansson and published by Ellerströms in 2024; (فكرة، فراغ، أبيض), co-written with the poet Hala Al Shruf and published by Dar al-Adab in 2005; (وحدها وحدي). published in 2005 by Sanabel; (أبواب), published in 2003 by Dar Merit; ( أول رشفة من صدر البحر ), published in 1999 by the Palestinian Writers Union in Gaza. She has also translated many poems to English, Spanish, Italian, French, Swedish and Norwegian that have been published in various literary anthologies and magazines.
Ali Al-Jamri is a poet, editor, translator, and educator in Manchester. He is one of Manchester’s Multilingual City Poets (2022-present). His work has been published in journals and websites including Modern Poetry in Translation, The Markaz, ArabLit, Poetry Birmingham, Harana and in anthologies. He has co-authored teacher texts with HarperCollins and is the editor of Between Two Islands: Poetry by Bahrainis in Britain (No Disclaimers, 2021) and ArabLit Quarterly: FOLK (ArabLit, 2021).