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Mum's Dream - حُلْمُ أُمْ (العربية /

 

Mum's Dream

In the deep black darkness of the night
I seek him:
walking, running,
stumbling. My blood-stained feet
refuse to stop,
cannot stop,
must not stop,
searching for him.
In the deep black darkness of the night

I adore him, for death I love him,
look forward to the day I shall meet him,
throw myself between his arms,
put my head on his shoulders and just… relax,
inhaling the aroma of his breath
basking in the warmth of his lap
No more darkness, no more night.

In his eyes I see my dreams
come true in beautiful days.
With his lips I kiss my baby, cry
“Oh my mother, we’ll live in peace!”
No more blood-soaked nights,
no more blooded days.
Peace has returned.
Peace is home.
Oh my mother, we’ll live in peace!
 

translation

◄ Poetry in translation migration situation

Comments

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Shirley Smothers

Tue 23rd Apr 2013 16:06

Wow! A powerful piece.
I can't help with any
improvement, but it's
very good.

Shirley

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Julian (Admin)

Tue 23rd Apr 2013 15:17

This is an amended version of new Writer-Out-Loud Souhad Harif's poem, originally written in Arabic then translated by Souhad, then amended by me (rather poorly, I agree. Can you help improve it? See below.

Souhad's poem in Arabic and English is on the translation wiki here: http://www.writeoutloud.net/trans/viewpoem.php?poemsid=5.

Click on <View History> to see Souhad's original version and any others as they are amended.
You can have a go at doing better than I have. You know how, sometimes, you would like to not just comment but help improve a poem? Well, the wiki allows you to have a go at that, so long as you are genuinely trying to help in the translation. Or you could use the translation as a basis for a further poem of your own - but do please attribute the source.

I am posting this to alert you to the translation wiki's possibilities. There are already poems on there in English awaiting translation into Urdu, Bangla or...? And in those languages awaiting translation into English. We obviously need help from people with the necessary language skills, both English and the other languages, but also from target language speakers who might help render a better poem in that language. For instance, anyone of our online community can have a go at this.

Soon, we intend that you can get your poems translated into various languages, as a way of internationalising what Write Out Loud does best, and of overcoming linguistic barriers to participation in the UK live poetry scene that is comprehensively listed on our gig guide. Obviously, the quid pro quo is that you help others create good English language versions of theirs.

You can see more about the wiki here: http://www.writeoutloud.net/trans/translationpoems.php?profilesid=2179

And please do add any comments, offers or suggestions in the comments boxes. Thank you/Shokran!

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