SIHEM HAMMOUDA

SIHEM

HAMMOUDA

SHE AND MAJNOUN LAILA

When  night falls and his madness is allayed ,

Towards the deserted poems she slips away.

His French coat asks about her unknown destination,

Whenever she travels by a French painting.

And her silver earring asks the cold floor,

About a lost beloved with a feverish  longing,

While she goes on searching

In the forgotten  verses,

For an old  name  reminiscent of his name

Or a woman that resembles her

But the old poems tell her

That Majnoun Leila  is reproaching

His insanity  for she is the most  insane of all

For a beloved has nothing but his insanity

As a  sincere proof of  his eshq.

*Majnun Layla (Arabic: مجنون لیلی‎ Majnun Layla, “Possessed by madness for Layla”) also referred to as (Persian: لیلی و مجنون‎ Leyli o Majnun, “The Madman and Layla” in Persian) is a love story that originated as a short, anecdotal poem in ancient Arabia, later significantly expanded and popularized in a literary adaptation by the Iranian poet Nizami Ganjavi who also wrote Khosrow and Shirin. It is the third of his five long narrative poems, Khamsa (the Quintet).

*ʻIshq is an Arabic word used in Arabic as well as many other languages. (Arabic: عشق‎; in Persian: eshgh; in Urdu: ‎ ishq; in Dari: eshq; in Pashto: eshq; in Turkish: aşk and in Azerbaijani: eşq), means “love”.

A FIGHTER WITHOUT ARROWS

…Then they lived happily ever after.

Nay, it is neither a folktale an old sailor

Could tell to kindle the flame of adventure

In the soul of a retired ship dimmed,

Nor a sealed love letter

From an enchantress  to a hermit.

It’s an epic about an ordinary man,

Whose  name will be chanted in battlefields

When fearless soldiers are vanquished by fear.

Before his exploits, invincible Hercules,

And grand Hannibal would bow in awe,

For unconquerable foes they fought

But inevitable fate he tamed.

It’s an epic about an ordinary man

Who taught fallen heroes that

Hardship is his majesty’s gif

To strong souls for only

A strong soul could bear hardship

And   when a gift is taken from you

Dig for unnoticed blessing deep in you .

Do you love her

?

He happened to turn around,

To see her teasing  the drunk ground,

With her  bare toes like a spoiled child.

She turned to him , and his oriental  eyes

Embraced hers as

An expatriate embracing  an old letter

From   his torn  homeland.

“Do you love her? ” She asked.

“Who?” He said

“The rain.” She answered.

“Yes  I do” He smiled.

“Who do you love more ?Me or her?” She asked.

He smiled  affectionately at her,

“Are you jealous of the rain?”He asked .

“The rain is a woman ,isn’t she?” She said.

“Yes it is.For that I love her.

Her  dormant  revolt is enkindled

By a rain drop breaking gracefully along his lips

Then travels secretly to his  covert cities.

She averted her dewy eyes,

Black pearls falling down

Her soft burning cheeks.

He approached her laughing and saying:

You are  jealous of  the rain aren’t you ?

I  love her because she resembles you

You are the rain  and she is you .

THE STORYTELLER

The rain  her princely dance finished,

And to the  moist stage rainbow ascended.

The young storyteller hastily  unfolded

His shawl  then spread  on the  ground.

The children  were waiting restlessly,

Like a bracelet around

A Persian princess’s  ivory ankle,

And a hungry flame is burning inside.

Tell us the story of

Th seaman and the mermaid

Or the wizard who lost his magic wand.

An angelic whisper lulled the

Dusky souls hiding in the old tales

Forgotten in The young storyteller’s saddlebag.

Today I am going to tell you

The story of  orange ,yellow, blue

Green,violet ,indigo and red;

The seven  brothers  living in harmony together

Melting into each other ,

But never become one,

For their difference is what wove

The rainbow  .The storyteller princely said.

HOME

Home

I tried to write

a song about freedom.

I closed my eyes

But all that I can see

Is a butterfly caught in

cobwebs

And a doll that lost her home.

MY HOME IS A BOOK

I wish my home was a book

I would  live in a fairy tale

And live happily ever after.

I would conquer wonderland

In children’s stories

Then surrender to orphans.

I would steal  a magic wand

To rekindle old women’s  smiles,

be a knight

reign a land

wherein bread is for all

and water is dulcet

and untarnished  like a maiden’s soul.

A FROZEN WISH

Embrace the  troubled waves

To comfort her worries

When her ungrateful ships forsook her

To conquer new home.

Soften  her pain when broken against rough rocks

Like a frozen wish broken along the lips of

An old woman

In  her lonely birthday.

Thank  the sea

Just as

The  parched desert thanks the rain

For cooling   the flaming sun’s whispers

against your  soft skin.

Learn fidelity from the wave that  has never abandoned  her shores.

Bathe your soul in the salty ocean

To know how tears shed by a broken heart

To know how tears shed by a broken heart taste,

To never hurt a bewitched spirit by love.

SIHEM HAMMOUDA

SIHEM HAMMOUDA is a Tunisian writer and translator who works between English, Arabic, and French. She also works as a teacher.