Passing Through
Lebanese Poet Mahdi Mansour
Translated by Nizar Sartawi


,In every visible wall there is an invisible door

pores unknown except by god

and entrances for poetry, revelation and souls

My blind body has never passed even through sea-water

And had it not been for the wind, the shield of air

between the forest, purpose, and thoughts

would have been torn by a veil

I will pass by this wall

The invisible locks of the unknown

have to accept the key’s attempts

How does the presence of an absent woman

travel from Berlin to Beirut

to a quarter so crowded with the living and the dead

,to a cellar built from the mud of solitude where you live

,to your cellphone

,to your earwax

,to your ears

?to you

And as a child who has become a prophet

the voice bears you in his joyful arms

and this planet crosses its arms

I will pass by this wall

since “I may pass” blunts the ridges of my key

The poet’s suspicions have not wearied
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عُبور
الشاعر اللبناني مهدي منصور
ترجمة نزار سرطاوي


في كُلِّ جِدارٍ مَرْئِيٍّ ثَمَّةَ بابٌ لا مَرْئِيٌّ

وَثُقوبٌ لا يَعْرِفُها غَيْرُ اللهْ

وَمَداخِلُ لِلشِّعْرِ وَلِلْوَحْيِ وَلِلأَرْواحْ

جَسَدي الأَعْمى لَمْ يَعْبُرْ حَتّى ماءَ البَحْرِ

وَلَوْلا الرّيحُ لَما مَزَّقَ سِتْرَ هَواءٍ بَيْنَ الغابَةِ وَالغايَةِ

وَالأَفْكارُ وِشاحْ

سَوْفَ أَمُرُّ بِهذا الحائِطِ

لا بُدَّ لِأَقْفالِ الغَيْبِ اللاّمَرْئِيَّةِ أَنْ تَقْبَلَ سَعْيَ المِفْتاحْ

كَيْفَ يُسافِرُ مِنْ بَرْلينَ إِلى بَيْروتَ

إِلى حَيٍّ مُكْتَظٍّ بِالأَحْياءِ وَبِالأَمْواتِ

إِلى قَبْوٍ مِنْ طينِ الوَحْدَةِ تَسْكُنُ فيهِ

إِلى هاتِفِكَ المَحْمولِ

إِلى صُمْغٍ في أُذُنَيْكَ

إِلى أُذُنَيْكَ

إِلَيْكَ

حُضورُ امْرَأَةٍ غائِبَةٍ

وَكَطِفْلٍ صارَ نَبِيًّا يَحْمِلَكَ الصَوْتُ بِأَيْدٍ مِنْ فَرَحٍ

وَيُكَتِّفُ أَذْرُعَهُ الوَلْهى هذا الكَوْكَبْ

سَوْفَ أَمُرُّ بِهذا الحائِطِ

ما دامَتْ "قد أَعْبُرُ" تَحْفُرُ أَسْنانَ مَفاتيحي

وَظُنونُ الشّاعِرِ لَمْ تَتْعَبْ