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Poetry

A Violet Darkness

By Najwan Darwish
Translated from Arabic by Kareem James Abu-Zeid
Najwan Darwish, Palestine’s most celebrated contemporary poet, cuts across history and time in this third selection in the 2024 Words Without Borders—Academy of American Poets National Translation Month series.
An oval shard of pottery with a wide band of deep purple through the middle and sky blue at both...
Circular shard, China, 960 CE–1279, stoneware with light blue and purple glaze. Lucy Maud Buckingham Collection, Art Institute of Chicago. Public domain.
Listen to Kareem James Abu-Zeid read his translation of "A Violet Darkness"
 
 
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And all that remains for me is to follow a violet darkness
on soil where myths splinter and crack.
Yes, love was time, and it too
splintered and cracked
like the face of our country.

My share of the people
is the transit of their ghosts.

“عتَمات بنفسجيّة” © Najwan Darwish. By arrangement with the author. Translation © 2024 by Kareem James Abu-Zeid. All rights reserved.

English Arabic (Original)

And all that remains for me is to follow a violet darkness
on soil where myths splinter and crack.
Yes, love was time, and it too
splintered and cracked
like the face of our country.

My share of the people
is the transit of their ghosts.

عتَمات بنفسجيّة

َع َعتَما ٍت َبَنْف َسجيّة َول أَْتَب

ْي َس ِسوى أَن

ْربَ ٍة تَتَ َشقَّ ُق فيها الأَساطيرفَ ْو َق تُ

َق، هو الآ َخ ُر،ب َز َمناً وتَ َشقََُّّج ْل، كا َن ال ُحأ َ

َل َو ْج ِه بلاِدناِمث ْ

 

ْشبا ِح ِه ِح َّصتي ِم َن م.الّناس عُبو ُر أ َ

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