Let me wander homeless
ALAA HASANIN – Translated by: Ibrahim Al-Sharif
Take an axe
and strike deep
into my heart
cut out the root of this sadness.
Take a bigger axe
and strike the root of the lord of the house
displace these sad birds
let these branches
collapse
and let me
be wander homelss.
Let me try
what it’s like to bury a mother
and how life is
without a father
in the picture.
Let me not die
a warm bird
that never tried to fly
and never knew
how wings flap.
Let me die
before the entrances
in chimneys
or a moon
lost in the snow.
Let me try
what drought is like
and how it’s like
to drown.
Let me try
what sleeping alone is like
and what it’s like
to sleep in trenches
or sleep on pavements.
Let me know
what a beautiful sadness is
and what exile is like,
being lost
in unknown stations
or walking
without a destination at night.
Let me try
the coldness of fingers
and living
with stolen identities
and wasting life
in bars
and underground stations.
Let me know
how a man dies
of life
and how a sad body dries up
on the pavement,
how it suddenly
becomes invisible.
Let me leave this falseness
and let me wander homeless.