Monday, April 4, 2016

An Imaginary City by Mahmud al-Braykan

An Imaginary City

I entered it in one of my travels
A silent city
No trace of the living
Doors shut
The wind playing in its squares
But its window lights
Were on all night
Who switches them on?
I saw roses in the gardens
Their necks tilted
A children’s playground
In ruins
I knocked at doors
I called out
Have they all died?
Did they depart?
What magic spell turned them into invisible beings?

Suddenly I saw the shadow of a woman
on a marble platform
fidgeting slowly
trying to wake up
I said: “Eve,
do you know who I am?
Adam”
But she didn’t understand the language

(Translated by Sinan Antoon)



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