NASSER ATTALAH

Nasser Mahmoud Atallah is a Palestinian poet and journalist born in Damascus, Syria in 1967. He published four poetic collections and many of his poems were published in Arab newspapers and journals. He won the Free Pen Festival, Egypt, 2019. Member of the General Secretariat of the General Union of Palestinian Writers. Member of the Journalists Syndicate
He resides in Gaza.

I AM CLOSER HERE THAN THE FAR THERE

I’m closer here than the far there
I pay off my dreams
I saddle the bosomed night on two partridges, cruising the heights,
and two waves in the gull’s wing,
distributing food to the inactive shells …

I am the son of my homeland that I have not seen Its secret is the key of my life
and my longing is its sweeping one
and my voice is the music of its flowing daytime

Neither does deprivation defeated me
nor time makes us forget that it is mine
I am the son of my homeland and her groveling child,
and its strong youth
and its coming elderly,
whatever happened to me
belongs to me and to her
and to a small gate,
which opens to the lounge of our first home

AKU LEBIH DEKAT DI SINI DARI YANG JAUH DI SANA

Aku di sini lebih dekat daripada yang jauh di sana
Ku bayar harga mimpi-mimpi ku
Ku pikul malam yang memuncak di dada
atas dua kemuncak yang menelusuri ketinggian rahmat Tuhan
dan dua ombak pada sayap sang camar
menghantar makanan kepada siput-siput yang kaku

Akulah putera Tanah Air yang tak pernah ku lihat
rahsianya adalah kunci kehidupan ku
dan kerinduan ku adalah yang menyapu rasa itu
dan suara ku adalah musik yang mengalir di siang harinya

Penafian ke atas ku tidak mengalahkan aku
Waktu juga tidak membuatkan kami lupa bahawa ia adalah milik ku

Akulah putera Tanah Air ku dan anak-anaknya yang merangkak
dan anak mudanya yang kuat
juga mereka yang semakin berusia

Apa pun yang berlaku kepada ku
adalah milik ku dan dia
dan sebuah pintu pagar kecil,
yang membuka ke ruang tamu rumah pertama kami.

Translated into  BAHASA MELAYU by Siti Ruqaiyah HASHIM
FROM : 3RD WORLD PEACE POEM ANTHOLOGY
ARTFUL GAMES OF THE GODS.
COPYRIGHT RESERVED.