Badr Shakir al-Sayyab Poems

Your eyes are two palm tree forests in early light,
Or two balconies from which the moonlight recedes
When they smile, your eyes, the vines put forth their leaves,
And lights dance . . . like moons in a river
...

For I am a stranger
beloved Iraq
...

The simoom puffs its heat on the midday until late afternoon.
The hot wind blows gustily either lets the sails folded or outspread.
The gulf is overcrowded with toiling seamen.
They rove through the sea to gain their daily bread.
...

Hungry in the tomb without food,
Naked in the snow without a cloak,
...

I roamed the hills
on the grey horse of a dream
fled the outstretched vistas,
fled the marketplace teeming with vendors,
...

Day has gone.
See. Its wick has died
on a horizon glowing, fireless,
and here you sit, waiting
...

Horses nigh and harbours wait the sunset
Masts reflect rosy sunbeams blood alike!
Lanterns glimmer behind shabby tavern widows
The drink makes him as if an idol
...

Buwaib , Oh Buwaib ,
Bells of a lighthouse lost at the bottom of the sea ,
Water is in the pots , and the sunset in the trees ,
The pots ooze bells of rain ,
...

Praise is to the Lord! However, the plague becomes extended.
Praise to God! However, the pain becomes overwhelmed.
Praise is to God! Some of calamities are a kind of nobility.
Praise is to Lord! Some of catastrophic things are a type of generosity.
...

Please don't go down, the night…
Dead people came along out of the daylight.
Who does return the absent man to his home?
If darkness encamps and there is not great delight.
...