Translated and introduced by Fatima Elbadri
Acclaimed Sudanese poet Mohamed N.M. Ali dedicates his latest collection, “نداء السكون” (The Call of Stillness), to “all of Sudan, the people, its land, and to the souls of the martyrs and the lovers.”
The Call of Stillness is drenched in the tides of longing, grief, and love. In this collection, yearning is visceral and refuge lies in the spaces between phrases. Mohamed N.M. Ali’s words are that of a chanting mystic, a lover searching for life’s meaning, and of the Sudanese heart carrying deep sorrow at the burning of its nation. A burning that erupted on April 15, 2023 and continues, wretched and cruel in its thievery of Sudan’s people and lifeblood.
In “The Bewildered Vision”, the poet asks, “what benefit are [my] words for the country?” The answer lies in the solace that comes only with bestowing words upon communal pain. Just as there is lyric to song, so there must be words to describe the deepest of sorrows, in order to heal the wounds of both self and nation.
The Bewildered Vision
By Mohamed N.M. Ali
Translated by by Fatima Elbadri
I know that I am tired,
and that my country is no longer my country.
It showcases me at the auction,
for I am a poet and nothing else.
And what benefit are words for the country?
If I die, they will say about me: “he and he”
and a rare photograph of me will be released.
And, after a short while,
I will be forgotten and erased from the page of memory.
But, perhaps by chance, one day,
my name will pass through a fleeting seminar,
and they will say about me that I
was a weaver of language,
that I was a friend of the bewildered vision.
They will say that they do not desire,
nor illustrate,
in the way that they dream.
الرؤى الحائرة
أعرف أني تعبت
وأن بلادي ليست بلادي
تعرضني فى المزاد
.فأنا شاعر ليس إلا
.فماذا تفيد الحروف البلاد
إذا مت سوف يقال بأني وأني
.وتنشر لي صورة نادرة
وبعد قليل من الوقت
أنسى.. وأشطب من صفحة الذاكرة…
أو ربما صدفة ذات يوم
سيعبر إسمي في ندوة عابرة
ويقولون عني أني
…كنت أسير اللغات
وكنت صديق الرؤى الحائرة
يقولون ما يشتهون
.وما يرسمون
كما يحلمون
Wings
Leaving it, toward it
Escaping from it, unto it
The sorrow of night was in full bosom
And my hand, broken
The heart, blind
And I search for myself
In the wings of the soul
In the doubts of certainty
In the tremors of wildfires
In the evening of oblivion, the hungry one at the city market
Behind a garment hung by the wind
In the midst of rainfall
Between two sorrows
From wilderness and the dominion of stone
And the explosion of time in the fever of place
جنوح
خارج منها إليها
هارب عنها عليها
كان حزن الليل ممتليء النهود
ويدي مكسورة القلب ضريرة
وأنا أبحث عني
فى جنوح الروح
فى شك اليقين
فى ارتعاشات الحرائق
فى مساء الغفلة الجائع فى سوق المدينة
خلف ثوب علقته الريح
فى صدر المطر
بين حزنين
من التيه وسلطان الحجر
وانفجار الوقت فى حمى المكان
Mohamed N.M. Ali is a Sudanese poet and journalist from Argo, Al-Shamaliya. He holds a degree in Philosophical Studies from Cairo University-Khartoum Branch Faculty of Arts. He has published several collections of poetry and was awarded The Tayeb Salih International Award for his poetry collection Songs of the Questions. His work as a journalist and literary correspondent has spanned decades, and includes working for several Sudanese newspapers, as well as Aljazeera Net and Qatar’s Alwatan. He is currently displaced in Egypt.
Fatima Elbadri is a Sudanese-American writer whose work includes themes of culture and communal experience. She holds a degree in English Literature from the University of Iowa. She was selected as first runner up for the 2023 Maureen Egen Writer’s Exchange Award in poetry. Her writing can be found or is forthcoming in Rowayat, The Passionfruit Review, Kalahari Review, African Writer, The Marbled Sigh, and elsewhere.