Literature | Things for Life | Short story

The author | Nawaf Younis

Nawaf Younis, born in 1950, is a Syrian journalist and writer who graduated from the Faculty of Arts, Department of Philosophy. He writes short stories and journalistic articles and has worked as a journalist for Al-Khaleej newspaper and Al-Masrah magazine. He served as the editor-in-chief of Dubai Cultural Magazine and Sharjah Cultural Magazine. He has won several awards and is a member of Emirati and Arab judging committees for short stories, novels, and theatrical scripts. His published works include Al-Rahil (The Departure), Malik Li YawmWahid (King for a Day), Hilm Taht Al-Far (A Dream under escape), and Ramad Al-Asabi’ (Ashes of the Fingers).

I walk alone, empty-handed, without a paper or a pen. How miserable these times are, passing slowly, making you feel as though you can fly. yet you don’t! I raise the collar of my coat, hands in my pockets, quickening my steps. The rain makes me smell the feminine scent of the earth. The rain intensifies, and I try to seek shelter, no specific place in mind, crossing streets, avoiding passersby, hoping to find a refuge that will take me in.

You won’t find other lands, and what you’re running from will chase you. You’ll always remain wandering, in the same alleys and streets. Here you are, past the threshold of fifty, still trying to paint with words,crossing all geographical borders, breaking through all barriers, flags, and barricades. You live through words, love, hate, fight, defeat anxiety, chaos, noise, sadness, and frustrations. You delude yourself into thinking you can control the surges of fear and the palpitations of your heart at every border checkpoint or passport control in any airport; where the circle of homeland shrinks to the point of suffocation and the soul fades in a dark corner of the self that was once proud, not long ago!

A seat in a glass-walled café, I watch the rain and the passersby from it. They try to fly, just as I did a moment ago, yet not one of them flies! I am overtaken by a sense of objectification. I surrender to this state. It’s beautiful not to be yourself for a few moments. Zero degrees is important in any case. The darkness of exile intensifies with the mirrors of the soul and a dream that never loses its charm and colors lies in the allure of a woman who exudes the scent of a wild mare, shaking the core of anyone who bathes in her fire, unable to escape a state of love that stretches from heart to heart.

From behind the café’s glass… I realize I’m talking to myself… It’s not easy to delve deep into time but it’s a good idea for a celebration. I won’t be stubborn anymore. I won’t resist, for I’ve grown a little older. My dry yellow leaves are falling, one leaf, then another and another, and I’m still on the chair, by the window, dreaming of a gazelle-like woman!

From a horizontal scene. I see a woman trying to cross.. I watch her, she seems confused, hesitating, trying to avoid the speeding cars, preparing herself and crossing towards a radiant woman who has the same measurements I prefer in a life partner. Her height is just right, her figure delicate, her hair chestnut, elegant even though the rain has dampened her. She stops and adjusts her attire, enters the café, scans the room as if looking for a place, a man. Our eyes meet, and she heads towards me with determination! I prepare to greet her, stand up delighted, extend my hand, and shake hers. She sits down exhausted on the chair beside me, scolding: Why don’t you bring the children with you?!

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 and their poetry, philosophers, historians, and men of letters, under the supervision of UNESCO. A poetry anthology is published recently through Alien Buddha press in Arizona, USA. Additionally, her poetry translations have been published in various international magazines.