This poem, simple as it is, means a lot to me. It is a journey, a kind of spiritual odyssey to the unknown. It features a sea, a moon, lightning, thunder, a boat and a traveller. I rank it among my Sufi poems. Yearning permeates it. Longing for the unknown fires it. It wavers between darkness and light and trembles at the edge of suffering, seeking the journey to make suffering meaningful.
It is both in Arabic and English.
The Journey: multimedia by Alisar Iram
The night has grown smaller
Waiting
Passionate longing
Hanging
Over the sea.
A voice cried
Peace ….peace
It is time to set forth
It is time to seek the source
Of this long sweeping darkness
So that we might find.
Perhaps, through the towering veils
Of this long night
We might discern a fair night
Gleaming
Perhaps in the maze of brooding images
We might catch a glimpse of the fair lightning
Glimmering
And stretch our necks
To listen to the song of the high thunder
Rumbling
The night has grown smaller
So has the place
Pain has grown gentler
So have the hours
So let us still our hearts
And let us whisper
Peace….peace be with us
For this beautiful calm is for us
And this elegy of the winds is for us
And for us the rocks have blossomed
And for us the caves are heaving incense
The daughter of man
Has grown tender
She opened her arms wide like a dove
And her gentleness throbbed like a violin.
She walked to the sea
And the sea walked to her
She rushed to the universe
And the universe rushed to her.
And the word was peace
And the feeling was love
As the boat pushed forward
And vanished into the flying moon.
اليسار ارم© Alisar Iram.
الرحيل
طفُل الليل وونَى
وران على البحور الجوى
وهتف هاتفٌ
السلام
السلام علينا
فقد حانت
ساعة الرحيل
الى منابع الليل الطويل
لعلنا بين حجب العتمةْ
نتبين ليلا ابيضْ
لعلنا في تيه الصخور الراضخةْ
نلمح برقا ابيضْ
لعلنا نجدُ
ونشرئبُ
لنسمع نشيد الرعود الباذخةْ
لعلنا نجدُ
طفُل الليل وطفُل المكان
طفل الالم وطفل الزمان
فدعنا نهدئ من روعنا
ولنهمس
السلام السلام علينا
فهذا الهدوء الجميل
انما هو من اجلنا
ومرثاة الريح الناغمة انما هي لنا
ومن اجلنا تفتت براعم الصخور
ونفِسَت الكهوف غمائم البخور
ابنة الانسان
حنت فتشاجنت
وفاض بها الحنانْ
وفتحت ذراعيها كالسمّانْ
وودُعت ساجعة كالكمانْ
وسارت الى البحر
وسار البحر اليها
وهرعت الى الكون
وهرع الكون اليها
وكانت الكلمة سلاما
وكان الشعور حباً
اذ تشرَع صدر القارب
وغاب في لجّة القمر الهارب
فالسلام علينا
السلام علينا
اليسار ارم© Alisar Iram
alisariram 