The Age of Rubber Stamps

By 
Buland al-Haydari


Return to us
oh, our age,
oh, age of rubber stamps,
oh, crack of whips
on our skins,
oh, shackles without a crime,
return to us
our old eyes
our sad black doors,
open to the night and to the storm,
return to us,
the shadows cast by the candles
in the darkness of the evening,
return to us,
our naked children under winter’s rage
whose little hand wish
that the heaven be torn asunder,
oh, our age,
oh, age of rubber stamps,
oh, shackles without a crime,
oh, crack of whips
return to us
our old eyes
so that we may recognize the victory which glimmers in defeat,
and erect for us
from the grasshoppers’ legs in our desert,
from the dried-up cactus in our country,
from the arms of our dead children,
gallows
asking us
about an anger seizing us
in a tumultuous song,
for we detest
your face carved
in rubber
in dirt
in crime.

Translated from Arabic by Mohammed B. Alwan.

This poem appeared in Al Jadid Magazine, Vol. 3, No. 17, April 1997.

Copyright © 1997 AL JADID MAGAZINE