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Nizar Qabbani’s Poem “Words” Posted by on Jul 13, 2010 in Culture

In this post, I present one of the most beautiful poems of Nizar Qabbani that became a song by Majda Al-Roumy. It is called (كـــلمات) ‘words’. The poem, its translation and the video are given below. Enjoy!

He tells me, when he dances with me,Words are not like other words

He takes me, from under my arms

He plants me, in a distant cloud

And the black rain in my eyes

Falls in torrents, torrents

He carries me with him, he carries me

To an evening of rosy balconies

And I am like a child in his hands

Like a feather carried by the wind

He gives me sun, he gives me summer

and flocks of swallows

He tells me that I am his treasure

And that I am equal to thousands of stars

And that I am treasure, and that I am

more beautiful painting he has ever seen

He tells me things that make me dizzy

that make me forget the dance floor and the steps

Words…which overturn my history

which make me a woman…in seconds

He builds castles of fantasies

In which I live …for seconds…

And I return…I return to my table

Nothing with me…

Nothing with me…except words

Words are not like other words

يسمعني حين يراقصـــنـي

كـــلمات ليسـت كالـكلمــات

يأخذني من تحت ذراعــي

يزرعني في إحدى الغيمات

والمطر الأسود في عينــي

يتساقــــــط زخات زخــات

يحملني معه يحـــــــملنـــي

لمــســاء وردي الشـرفات

 وأنا كالطـفـــلة في يديـــــه

كالــريشة تحملها النسمات

يهديني شمسا يهديني صيفا

وقطيع السنــونـــــــــوات

يخــبرنـي أنـــي تحـفتـــه

وأســـاوي آلاف الـنجــمات

وبأني كنز وبــــأني

أجمل مــا شـــاهـــد مــن لوحــات

 يروي أشياء تدوخـــني

تنسيني المرقص والخطوات

كلمات تقلب تاريخـــي

 تجعلني امــرأة في لحظات

يبني لي قـصراً من وهم

لا أسكــن فــيه ســـوى لحظات

وأعـــــــود لطــاولـتـي

لاشــيء معــي

لاشــيء معــي  … إلا كلــمــــــات

كلمات ليسـت كــالـــكلمات

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Comments:

  1. KT:

    This is great, thank you Aziza. Arabic is a lovely language and I hope to learn it someday.