Nizar Sartawi

Nizar Sartawi Poems

i'm just a bedouin:
i live in a tent -
cozy an' fair
its fabric woven
...

Here they come
the frequent trespassers of this terrain
in their tattered truck
The heavy black boots
...

Oh my shadow how you tire me out
you, the deformed ghost
of the agony dwelling within my ribs…!
How you push me to hide in the dark for fear
...

This time
the Synagogue and the Mosque
were resolutely reconciled:
...

Farewell
lest the cells of feelings die
as this moon
will go away
...

Dedicated to Tunisian poet, Huda Hajji

O Witch!
O Lady of the meadows of golden spikes and dark olive groves
...

Another annum
of my life
some friends come
and stay within our heart
...

Hey you passer-by!
Linger awhile
Adjust the handles of your watch
on the rhythm of the things around you
...

10.

Blank
Nizar Sartawi

He's asking us
...

All of a sudden
the wall melts

*****
...

When passion roars

in our bosoms
...

All alone,
peering out the window
before sunrise,
I return the greetings:
...

How did you droop
like a captain horrified by a storm
when in your horizons
flocks of white clouds passed
...

My sails are wandering aimlessly.
I've never thought my passion would be lost
for the sands of the shore
hidden in the grip of fate,
...

We're born in the ice lands of Ragnarök*
neither complaining nor wailing
bearing sword and flames in our hands
we fight the ice and the Giants
...

He calmly stepped out
from his golden dwelling
in the great Okeanos
as Eos of the saffron-colored robe
...

19.

Little lonely leaf
knocking on the glass door
with your whole feeble
form
...

(For Ibrahim Abu Thuraya)

For sale: a wheelchair
in good condition.
...

Nizar Sartawi Biography

Nizar Sartawi is a poet and translator. He was born in Sarta, Palestine, in 1951. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature from the University of Jordan, Amman, and a Master’s degree in Human Resources Development from the University of Minnesota, the U.S. Sartawi is a member of the Jordanian Writers Association, General Union of Arab Writers, and Asian-African Writers Union. He has participated in poetry readings and festivals in Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Kosovo, and Palestine. He is currently working on a translation project, Arab Contemporary Poets Series. Sartawi’s poems and translations have been anthologized and published in books, journals, and newspapers in Arab countries, the U.S., Australia, Indonesia, Italy, the Philippines, and India. Sartawi lives with his family in Amman, Jordan. He has one son, three daughters, and four grandchildren.)

The Best Poem Of Nizar Sartawi

The Bedouin's Song

i'm just a bedouin:
i live in a tent -
cozy an' fair
its fabric woven
from rough goat-hair -
a shady cover
in the summer
a rain-proof shelter
in the winter

my possessions:
a single garment - a tall black robe
that I call a thobe
a pair of worn out sandals
a coffee kit
and other little things
i put in a sack
that may not fit
with countrysiders' appetites
or urbanites'

my homeland:
all this infinite expanse
of deep beige sands

my sole companion:
a faithful camel
who carries me
and all my stuff
and together we cross the endless desert
and when i sing
some cameleer song
he gets so light
out of delight
and makes as if to fly
towards the sky

* * * * *

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