If Only the Boy had Been a Stone Poem by Ali Al Jallawi

She was saying, as a lie which no shadow follows
And an illness which her step accompanies not
The apple has no name, only that which I say
I am cursed
For no one walks to the meaning but I

She was saying
And I was seeking my hand in her chest

She was concealing the face of God between two songs
O Lord
When she walked she confused the children in my heart

And she would, by the conversation's details,
Once again make the apples the victims, heading for the meaning
She accused the metaphor of the boy
"If only the boy had been a stone."

And I…was just myself
I tried to be like others
Clearly, or with faded steps
Catching his shadow by the legs
And retuning the violin, your blouse

Then I tried
But I was…just myself
Mine the parchment boat
I push it against the river of time
My collar is turned up and I return from myself

And mine the violet's doubt
When it climbs the stairs of walls
And throws the poem between the woman's breasts

In order to be reassured of the words,
Of the details - I think they are insignificant like me -
Like the position of the shirt's button on the breast
The colour of your hand's discussion
The movement of two moons in the body's ocean

She was saying
And birds gathered on my lips
As if...no shadow followed her
And no trace accompanied her step

A stone on my heart
And if only the girl could send back the trees from her dress
A stone on my heart
"If only the boy had been a stone."

Translated by Ayesha Saldanha