1. Gamal Al Kassas

Gamal Al-Qassas (1950) is an Egyptian poet and journalist. He has published nearly fourteen poetry collections, the most recent of which is “There was Music Here,” published in 2023. Selections of his poems have been translated into English, Arabic, and Greek. He also won the Cavafy International Prize in Poetry in 1998. Furthermore, he is considered one of the most important founders of the “Illumination 77” poetry group in the 1970s.

I have a grave

I have a grave
That’s all I possess
It’s beautiful to rest my head
On the knee of eternity and doze off
To close my eyes forever
They will say a poet has departed
Who adored the youth of the landscape
Seeing the color beyond the painting
Beyond the poem
Beyond the stain of mirrors
Beyond the splashing of the sea on the pillow
Do not ask me:
Why did the night stir from its slumber?
There is a spirit hanging in the vessel
Here it is contemplating
Whispering in its ears:
Be faithful to the secret
Teach him how to ride the swing
To cultivate the lines and the void
To search in the pockets of light
For a living embrace
For a kiss
Its stock has run out in the market
For a star
That couldn’t find its shadow in the coffee shop
Nor in Al Bustan café in Cairo downtown
I still dream
To get to know my body
Myself
My name
A life
I left behind
I did not bid it farewell
Only… the tears flowed from my hands
As I closed the notebook.

Dreams

Dreams no longer wake up early
Nothing hurries them
Flip their pillows
Put a blindfold over their eyes
Reminding them that their glasses are askew
They can no longer distinguish between a butterfly
And a bullet
In these troubled times
There is nothing more beautiful than to dream
To gather the world in my hands
To write an elegy for myself
For my memories
For my dreams
For the women who hid me in their garments
For friends who departed swiftly
For a sea that no longer resembles me
For a hand that has not left the doorknob.

Translated from Arabic by

Dr.Salwa Gouda

Salwa Gouda is an Egyptian literary translator, critic, and academic at the English Language and Literature Department at Ain-Shams University. She holds a PhD in English literature and criticism. She received her education at Ain-Shams University and California State University in San Bernardino. Furthermore, she has published several academic books, including Lectures in English Poetry and

Introduction to Modern Literary Criticism, and others. She has also contributed to the translation of “The Arab Encyclopedia for Pioneers,” which includes poets, philosophers, historians, and men of letters, under the supervision of UNESCO. Also, her translated poetry anthology, entitled Dogs Pass Through My Fingers, was published recently through Alien Buddha Press in Arizona, USA. Additionally, her literary translations have been published in various international magazines.