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Feast Days

November 23, 2017/in Translation, Translation, Winter-Spring 2018 / by Maryah Converse

[self-translated poetry]

Feast of the Sacrifice and no sacrifice
neither wealth nor goats
yet each one a sacrifice—
It hurts
hurts of hunger and thirst
hurts of fear and belittlement
sacrifices of the invaluable, the self

Feast of the Sacrifice and each one
is Ismail
under the looming hand
sacrifice small and weak
witnessing the weapon—
And it hurts
hurts for lack of strength
for lack of voice
for lack of aid
neither inner assistance
nor allies

Feast of the Sacrifice and each one
Ismail without Gabriel
Where the angel?
Where the messenger?
Where the voice of justice?
that tells the butcher
Stop!
Your intent is enough
your signaled intent is enough

Feast of Christ’s Birth without begetting
neither gifts nor blessings
yet destruction—
Feast of the Birth and the gift
is destruction
of homes and wealth
of family and childhood
of a sense of safety and hope—
Destroying the eternal
destroying the future
of persons
and of nations

Feast of the Birth
births fear and sorrow
anger and hatred
in the children’s hearts
children of the Strip
and of the Holy City

Feast of the Lights without light
neither spark nor oil
nor light of hope—
no light in the temple
nor in the church
nor in the mosque—
no hope of safety
nor justice
nor peace
nor aid—
not on Feast days
or any day

 

أيام الأعياد

عيد الأضحى بلا أضحى
بلا فلوس وبلا أغنام
بل كل فرد ضحية
يألم
يألم من الجوع ومن العطش
ومن الخوف ومن الاستصغار
ويضحي بالنفس والنفيس

عيد الأضحى وكل فرد
هو إسماعيل
تحت يد الأكبر
الضحية أصغر وأضعف
ويشاهد الأسلحة
ويألم
يألم بعدم القوة
بعدم الصوت
بعدم المساعدة
لا مساعدة نفسية
ولا مساعدة الأصدقاء

عيد الأضحى وكل فرد
إسماعيل بلا جبريل
وأين جبريل؟
أين الرسول؟
أين الصوت من العدل
يقول للذابح
قف
يكفي الإرادة
يكفي رمز أرادتك

عيد الميلاد بلا توليد
بلا هدايا ولا بركة
بل بتدمير
عيد الميلاد والهدايا
هي التدمير
وتدمير البيوت والثروة
بل تدمير العائلة والطفولة
وشعر الأمن والأمل
هو تدمير المؤبّد
وهو تدمير المستقبل
مستقبل الشخص
كما الوطن

عيد الميلاد يولد
الخوف والحزن
والغضب والكراهة
في قلوب الأطفال
أطفال القطاع
وأطفال القدس

عيد الأنوار بلا ضوء
لا ضوء ولا زيت
ولا ضوء الأمل
لا ضوء في الكنيس
ولا في الكنيسة
ولا في المسجد
لا أمل بالأمن
ولا بالحق
ولا بالسلام
ولا بالمساعدة
لا في أيام الأعياد
ولا في أيام العادية

 

Translator’s Note:

As a Peace Corps Volunteer, Maryah Converse lived intimately embedded in an Arab Muslim Bedouin community in Jordan. Later, living in the capital Amman, she found that she could only respond to the 2008 bombing of the Gaza Strip in her non-native Arabic language, the language of her love for the people of the Levant. Inspired by a long-ago study of the work of Tanya Blixen/ Isak Dinesen, she realized that “Feast Days” also deserved to be accessible in her native language, and she became her own translator.

 

Maryah Converse was a Peace Corps educator in Jordan, 2004–2006, and was studying in Cairo during the 2011 Arab Spring. She has written for Forage Poetry, From Sac, New Madrid, Silk Road Review, Newfound, and The Matador Review. Gulf Stream nominated her work for the 2017 Best of the Net collection. She teaches Arabic and English as a foreign language, and blogs intermittently about the world at bymaryah.wordpress.

https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png 0 0 Kathy Katims https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Kathy Katims2017-11-23 20:31:022017-12-07 08:43:25Feast Days

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Friday Lunch Blog

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Today’s course:

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Midnight Snack

A destination for all your late night obsessions.

Tonight’s bites:

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Amuse-Bouche

Little bites every Monday to whet your appetite!

Today’s plate:

Which Half

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School Lunch

An occasional Wednesday series dishing up today’s best youth writers.

Today’s slice:

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Word From the Editor

Here at Lunch Ticket, 2021 represents ten years of our literary journal. 2021 marks the start of a new decade, one I can only hope will stand as tall and iconic in the history of our publication as the jazz age in America. What we’ve put together this fall is what I call and will fondly remember as our “Roaring 20th Issue”.

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