ZOHRA TAHRI

 

ZOHRA TAHRI

 

I Look Beautiful

 

When all my chances are gone

In success when my boat capsizes

Storms and winds gone wild

When a volcano stands between me and

reaching to a goal

When hope fails me

And my relatives abandon me

When my spirit sinks

And the fire is burning on the way I'm going

When luck puts me in a vault with hell

When the man I loved rejects me

And the house to which I belong

And the dream that I'm running after

When everyone rejects me

When the daylight disappears from my life

When disappointments surround me

And I live through all the wars

When enemies surround me

My issues are going the opposite way

My hands are paralyzed by surprise

When everything happens to me

When the key breaks in the door

And I'm stuck outside

When I get in all the trouble

I look beautiful

 

When I wrote it I heard a woman can't stand me

Says

This is a morale boosting lie

Poetess: Zahra ElTahri

 

TRANSLATION: RADWAN ELNAJI

 

 

 

Too, Too Long As A Fairy Tale

 

I was longing for you

Very, very redundant as a sailor's poem

I drowned in the details of the city

And every line

Desire and fragrance shriveled

I was longing for you

Too long as a fairy tale

It will take pictures and phrases

It will take all my heart

and my heart

Till the end

I was longing for you

very much like water

in the sea of my eyes

And don't take me out of your arms

And don't ask me to come back

or leave me

Because I will always live with you, this is the beginning

And I won't let her pass to the second scene

I won't let you fold my body

and forget me

together we will be

Do not be misled by our embrace

Ironically

And do not explain our separation

by distances

you are all

and I'm all of you

Not even ten minutes between us

to please time

together we will be

I am like you and your body

and you are my face

and my place

Poetess: Zahra ElTahri

 

TRANSLATION: RADWAN ELNAJI

 

 

 

Because You Are Sheets Of Paper

 

I loved you because you are the only one who

You didn't want to change me

from a tree

to wood

from a butterfly

to a piece of dress

I loved you because you are the only one who gave me

papers and ink

without asking

I loved you because you are paper

who should write

all my dreams

all my pain

All love

Oh my white page

Oh lines waiting for my fingers

Oh wings fly with me

and put me down

on the heartbeat

I loved you because you are the only one who gave me heaven

And she lifted me to her

From the first meeting

I loved you because you are the only one

Who took me from the sand

And you put me on top of the clouds

You told me to write there

And rain this flame

How beautiful is the rain when words fall

And how beautiful is her lip while dripping water

Like a cherry split in half

And met each other again

Like a coat he opened his window

And he brought me into it in the rain of winter

Poetess: Zahra ElTahri

 

TRANSLATION: RADWAN ELNAJI

 

ZOHRA TAHRI

 

ZOHRA TAHRI is a poet from Morocco Radwan ElNaji is a poet, linguist and translator, from Banghazi- Libya