Adonis (Ali Ahmed Sa'id Esber): The Bird

(Tr. James C. Riggan)

I listened:

a swallow over Sannin

roaring in the recorded silence

until its hoarseness,

like a razor, wounds

the city’s chill.

(Tr. Mounah A. Khouri & Hamid Alga)

I listened:

A bird on Mount Sannin

Singing on and on

Until silence prevails,

Until its song becomes

Like the blade of a knife,

Wounding, with hoarseness and weeping,

The city’s chill.

"Adonis" (b. 1930) is the foremost modern Syrian poet, long resident in Paris. The first English version above I suspect is much less faithful to the original, but has more poetry, even if the translator's choice of roaring is a puzzle. The swallow plays an unusual role: nothing is positive in this poem.