The Cities
Poetry by
Ghassan Alameddine
Translation by
Raghid Nahhas
Selected poetry from five published collections
and one unpublished, in Arabic
Comments by poet and educator Dr Louise Wakeling are included
Kalimat Publications, Sydney 2019
(A PDF copy is available from "Downloads" on this website.)
The Poem of Istanbul - Bilingual Version
An Arabic Poetry Collection by Jihad Elzein with English Translation by Raghid Nahhas
Published by Bada2e3, Beirut 2016
(With special thanks to the prominent Lebanese lawyer and thinker Professor Chibli Mallat for the opportunity to publish this version.)
فاجأ الصحافيّ اللبنانيّ المعروف، جهاد الزين، زملاءه وقرّاءه اللبنانيّين والعرب حين أصدر "قصيدة إسطنبول"، ديوانه الشعريّ الأوّل، عام 2002. ما سبق لأحد أنْ علم أنّ الزين يكتب الشعر، ناهيك بأنّه ينظمه بمهارة رفيعة. نشر الزين كتاباته وتعليقاته السياسيّة على مدى السنين في أرقى الصحف اللبنانيّة، لكنّه معروف من قبل عدد كبير من القرّاء العرب أيضاً. يأتي تحليله للأحداث المختلفة نتيجة خبرة شخصيّة طويلة زار خلالها دولاً كثيرة حيث تعرّف إلى الثقافات المختلفة، لكنّ الأهمّ من ذلك، برأيي، أنّ فهمه العميق لأساس السلوك الإنسانيّ هو ما أضاف بعداً هامّاً على تحليلاته السياسيّة، ألا وهو ما يمكن أنْ نصنّفه على أنّه البعد "الأدبيّ"، نظراً للأحاسيس التي يكشفها لنا في القضايا التي يعالجها، بما في ذلك نقاط الضعف والقوّة، لدى الغالب والمغلوب، في سلسلة من التداخلات، والصراعات، أو مجرّد إدارة العمل السياسيّ. يكتب الزين أجزاء من بعض قصائده الحاليّة نثراً، لكنّ شعره حديث، موزون بأناقة. وهو شعر مصقول وعلى درجة فكريّة عالية، منظوم بإيقاع موسيقيّ ينمّ عن حبّ الزين وتقديره العميقين لجمال وبؤس الطبيعة، والناس، والمدنيّة. يجمع ما بين إعجابه بما يرى، مثل اللوحات الزيتيّة، وفهمه لما وراءها من أحداث وعلاقة ذلك بالحياة من حوله مباشرة. النتيجة: قطعة شعريّة مشبعة بالفكر الذكيّ والخيال الخصب. "قصيدة إسطنبول" قصيدة من عشر سفن محمّلة بهوى مدينة تاريخيّة وعصريّة معاً بامتياز! إنّها المدينة القصيدة: أغنية أرض تقع في جزء حيويّ من العالم، تقسمه وتوّحده مياه شاهدة على مساعٍ إنسانيّة سرمديّة
مع الشكر العميق للمحامي والمفكر اللبناني المرموق البروفسور شبلي الملاّط الذي أتاح نشر هذه النسخة مع الترجمة
رغيد النحّاس
The Poem of Istanbul by Jihad Elzein
A translation into English, by Raghid Nahhas, of a poetry collection by Jihad Elzein
Published by Raghid Nahhas, Sydney 2015
Jihad Elzein, a prominent Lebanese journalist, surprised his colleagues and his Lebanese and Arab readers when he published Qassidat Istanbul (The Poem of Istanbul), his first poetry book, in 2002. No one had known that Elzein wrote poetry, let alone that it was of high calibre. A political columnist who has been working for prestigious newspapers in Lebanon, Elzein is known to many Arab readers as well. His analyses of events has been the product of years of first-hand experiences that took him to many countries and exposed him to various cultures, but above all it was his deep understanding, in my opinion, of the innermost of human behaviour that added an important touch to his political commentary, namely a dimension that can be classified as “literary” due to the emotions he exposes in his subject matter, weaknesses and strengths, of victims and victimisers in an array of interactions, conflicts or merely the conduct of political business. Some of the poems in the current book have parts written in prose. This is indicated in italics. Elzein’s poetry, however, is modern with fine use of metre. It is sophisticated and highly intellectual, musically constructed to reveal his deep passion and appreciation of the beauty and misery of nature, humans and civilisation. He combines his admiration of what he sees, such as oil paintings, with his understanding of the events behind them and the association with this and the immediate life around him. The outcome is often an intelligent and imaginative piece of poetry. “The Poem of Istanbul” is a poem of ten ships loaded with the passion of a historic and remarkably modern city, which is itself a poem: a song of a land located at a vivacious part of the world, divided and united by waters that has stood witness to long and continuous human endeavours.
Raghid Nahhas
Thirty-Four Tales
Translations into Arabic, by Raghid Nahhas, of contemporary Australian short stories
Published by Raghid Nahhas, Sydney 2015
This is a collection of my Arabic translations of thirty-four contemporary Australian short stories, told by writers of varied backgrounds, but they all call Australia home. I originally published most of them in different issues of Kalimat, a journal I edited between 2000 & 2006. (Kalimat is the Arabic for “words”.) Most of these tales embody elements of the cultural heritage of their writers or their forbears. As such, they extend beyond Australian boundaries to include other geographical, historical and intellectual spheres. Some of these tales take us to a village in Lebanon, a street in New York or a field in Afghanistan. Others tell us about what happens in some Australian suburbs, beaches, mangroves or an industrial city such as Newcastle. They speak of the human condition in its sexuality, mental capacity, health, social status, domestic upheavals, business ventures, civil strives, fantasies and much more. I am grateful to all the writers who originally were the air that Kalimat was breathing. With their contributions we were able to sustain publication for a while. Now, readers of Arabic have an opportunity to enjoy and explore these contributions, particularly that they are included in one book. This book is intended to delight the general reader of Arabic and the scholar.
The Selected Writers
Hyacinth Ailwood, Susan Beinart, Carmel Bird, Greg Bogaerts, Marisa Cano, Fiona M. Carroll, Dave Cauldwell, Justin D’Ath, Jane Downing, Ryn England, Kennedy Estephan, Mary Goulding, John Griffin, Pam Harvey, John Holton, Pam Jeffery, Carolyn van Langenberg, Andrew McKenna, Chris Mansell, Strephyn Mappin, Eileen Marshall, Sophie Masson, Jean L. Menere, Bruce Pascoe, Rachael Quigley, Eva Sallis (Eva Hornung), Thomas Shapcott, Graham Sheil & Astra Warren
المحتويات
مقدّمة المترجم: هذه الحكايا 3 كينيدي أسطفان: وَعْد 9 إطلاق السبيل 13 رين إنكلاند: ريشتان 21
هياسينث أيلوود: المعموديّة في غلينروك 27 الطريق إلى "غليب" 30 بروس باسكو كوَّة 33
سوزان باينارت: مصيدة الصراصير 40 غريغ بوغارتس: "لِمونتري باسيج" 51 كعكة عيد الميلاد 61
كارمل بيرد: اللحْظَةُ الذَهبيّة 67 بام جيفري: جايمس دين والأحلام القديمة 77 تشارلي صديقنا "اللدود" 81
جَستين داث: خمسَة تعميمَات عَن المَرأة والحُبّ 85 جاين داونينغ: محلاّت خان 103
إيفا ساليس: مُنيرَة والوَجبةُ العَامِرَة 117 توماس شابكوت: القبّعة الحمراء 125 غراهام شيل الشحنة 139
جون غريفين: قصّة نيليكان 155 ماري غولدينغ: السَلَف 167
كارولين فان لانغنبيرغ: أكابر... من "ردفيرن" إلى "ورينغتون" 172 فيونا م. كارول: الميراث 179
ماريسا كانو: رايموندو 187 دايف كولدوِل: تحرير 196 راشيل كيغلي: رقعة جلد 205
ستريفين مابين: الغَطَّاس 215 آيلين مارشال: بحروف قرمزيّة 221
صوفي ماسون: شَاطئُ الأجَانب 230 "لانسِلوت" 233 كريس مانسل: يوجيني وطيور الكَرَوانْغ 246
أندرو مكينا: تطويب "مالك الفلانيّ" 251 جين ل. مونيير: أفكار على القماش 262 بام هارفي: رَسائلٌ إليْهَا 271
جون هولتون: جون لينون ومسألة مصرفيّة معقدة 278 أسترا وارِن: الدائرة المغلقة 291
Verses Across the Tasman
Translations into Arabic, by Raghid Nahhas, of contemporary poetry from Australia and New Zealand
Published by Raghid Nahhas, Sydney 2015
This is a collection of my Arabic translations of a selection of contemporary poetry from Australia and New Zealand. I originally published most of them in different issues of Kalimat, a journal I edited between 2000 & 2006. (Kalimat is the Arabic for “words”.) These verses are their creators’ magical journeys to mundane places and situations. Whether, for example, describing a flower, a hospital ward, city traffic or bathing one's mother, the intensity of our poets' feelings is effectively articulated in the internal music played by keywords and an ensemble of instrumental expressions. As I similarly note in a recent book about my translations of Australian short stories, I am grateful to all the writers who originally were the air Kalimat was breathing. With their contributions, we were able to sustain publication for a while. Now, readers of Arabic have an opportunity to enjoy and explore these contributions, particularly that they are included in one book. This book is intended to delight the general reader of Arabic and the scholar.
The poets selected are
• Margaret Bradstock • Adrian Caesar • Fiona M. Carroll • Jan Dean •J ohn Encarnação • Glenda Fawkes • Paul Hetherington • Jan Hutchison • Bryony Jagger
• Manfred Jurgensen • Jillian Kellie • Liat Kirby • Paul Knobel • Carolyn van Langenberg • Julie Leibrich • Jennifer Maiden • Ann Martin • John O’Connor • Eva Sallis (Eva Hornung) • Faith de Savigné • Rae Sexton • John Sheppard • Clarissa Stein • Heather Stewart • Leon Trainor • Ron Vickress • Louise Wakeling • Chris Wallace-Crabbe
المحتويات
مقدّمة المترجم 3 جون إنكارناسا أيّ جزيرة هذه؟ 15 جون أوكونر القَصيْدَة 19 طَريق فِرسَاي، لوفِسْيِين 20 أسْوَد وأبْيَض 21 الغَسَّالة الدَورَانـيّة 22 البالون 24 مارغريت برادستوك مُتتالية كايب بايرون المنارة 25 السفينة المقلوبة 28 أغنية الحوت 30 ليون ترينر من هذه الأرض 33 من القمّة 34 حركة المرور في جاكارتا 36 تسلّق الرَبْوَة 37 حديقة ماريّا 39 بريوني جاغر تَفَتُّح اللَيلَك 41 قرْطاسْيَا 42 جان دين السَبْر والكَدْح 43 فيث دو سافينيه المُتَفَرِّجَة 45 إيفا ساليس (إيفا هورننغ) وَجَع 47 انعكاسات 48 كلاريسا ستاين حكم مؤبّد 49 أخبار اليوم: أزهار زيتون، تتفتّح. 50 أرشيف الأمل 52 لا أخوض هذه الحرب 54 صيف هنديّ 56 فوق أفغانستان 57 خسارة 58 هيثر ستيوارت لحَظَةٌ قَمَرِيَّةٌ 61 ريه سكستون الطائرُ القيثاريُّ 63 سُكوت 64 مارالينغا 65 أدريان سيزر أربعُ صُوَرٍ ذاتيّة 67 جون شبرد غُبار 75 غليندا فووكس الدُّخُولُ في الغَسَق 77 أسْهَلُ مما ظنَنّا 79 خَسَارَةُ الكَلِمَات 81 رون فيكرس حين خَرَجْتِ من الصفحات 83 فيونا م. كارول تسلّق السور 87 ليات كيربي حَمَّام 89 وِرَاثَة 90 تُقوّسُ عَينيَّ لِلَّوز 91 تغيير 93 حَديثُ الصَمت 95 انتشار الصفار 96 جيليان كيلي مُحَجّبَاتُ مَسْقَط 99 كارولاين فان لانغنبيرغ ديمقراطيّة 101 فِنجَان 109 جولي لايبرخ انتزاع الجِلب 111 تأطير الماضي 112 منظر طبيعيّ 113 في يومها الأخير في المنزل 114 عذراء الجليد 116 آن مارتن صَقيع 119 جينيفر مايدن ليبق الغطاء محكماً: تأمّلات في حرب الخليج فكرة عظيمة 121 لسنا بهذا الرخص 122 ليبق الغطاء محكماً 124 دودج 125 دفن قبل الأوان 127 بول نوبل حديقتنا 129 بيروت 130 مَرْثاة أبوريجينيّة 131 جان هتشيسون السجن المؤبّد وقت طويل جدّاً 133 حِبال من أجل جَوّال 135 بول هيذرينغتون الشَجَرة المتسلّقة 141 وأصحو 143 بسبب الغياب 144 كريس والاس-كراب التفكير بـــأوميو 145 خَضَارٌ دُونَ صَدَى 146 أعضاءٌ كابحة 147 العفريت المحتار 148 مُكْتَنِزٌ كاللحم 150 لويز ويكلينغ يقظة الصباح 153 هنا، وهناك 157 المكتبة الوطنيّة، بغداد، 2003 160 مانفريد يورغنسن منتصفُ الليل 163 الصوتُ الكَسير 164 جناح الإصابات، وسط مانيلا 165 سباحة ظهريّة من أجل روبرت 167
Your Name Is My Memory by Khalid al-Hilli
Poetry collection, translated by Raghid Nahhas. Papyrus Publishing, Melbourne 2012
My association with Khalid al-Hilli developed when he was an adviser to Kalimat, a magazine of creative writing I used to publish and edit. In addition to his literary contributions to the magazine, he attracted several Arab writers from around the world to contribute their writings, poetry and art. He was also in charge of “Literary Fair”, a section in the Arabic edition of the magazine, concerned with book reviews. He promoted the magazine in several ways, including organising literary gatherings. His deeds were a reflection of his dedication and love of literature and the arts. Khalid al-Hilli was born in Hilla (so he is al-Hilli), a town in the county of Babil (Babylon) in Iraq, in 1945. His first publications were outside his country in 1962 when he published poetry and prose articles in prominent literary journals in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. Later his works appeared in many Arab and Iraqi journals. He left Iraq for the last time in 1979, and stayed in the United Arab Emirates where he worked as a journalist till 1982. He then moved to Morocco working as an editor for a local newspaper and a correspondent for a Qatari newspaper. He migrated to Australia in 1989, and worked for some time as a correspondent for a Saudi newspaper. He lives in Melbourne, and still writes for some Arabic newspapers. His first book of ideas and poetry was published in 1963. The present translated collection was originally published in Arabic under the title Cloudy Cities just before he left Morocco in 1988. From his introduction to Cloudy Cities, we know that the poems were all originally written in Iraq between 1962 and 1977. Al-Hilli believes that poetry is written on some occasions and lived on others. This is why when he is not writing poetry, he is living it. Khalid and I are very appreciative of Eileen Marshal who kindly commented on the manuscript. We are grateful to Dr. Mohamed Abumeis, an artist of Libyan origins, for allowing us to use one of his paintings for the cover of this collection. The photos used throughout the text are of paintings by Dr. Foad al Tai, an Iraqi artist living in Sweden. For this, we thank him whole-heartedly. We appreciate the guidance and patience of Clarissa and Herbert Stein, of Papyrus Publishing, throughout the preparation for and publishing of this work.
Raghid Nahhas
CONTENTS
Notes from the Book of Women 7
Inferno 10
Cloudy Cities 12
The Garden of Sadness 14
A Deferred Matter 18
Nightmare 20
The Many Faces of the Same Matter 22
The Flight of Laughter 26
Things Related to the Mirror 28
The Riddle 30
A Passing Memory 32
Vestibules 33
Down and Up 37
Half-Lost in Water 39
Words at Crossroads 41
After Four 43
From my Early Scribbles 46
A Night with a Twisted Neck 48
Attack and Retreat of another Kind 50
Dispositions 52
Temporary Departure 56
Another Return 57
Equation 59
From Discarded Papers 61
Tremor 63
Sour Grapes 64
Premonitions 66
Roaming 68
Your Face and the Night 69
Another Wednesday 71
About the Poet 72
About the Translator 73
Arabesque of Love by Maher Kheir
Poetry collection, translated into English by Raghid Nahhas
Papyrus Publishing, Melbourne 2010
CONTENTS
Unpublished Poems
Roads in our Palm 9
A Tear on a Clown’s Cheek 11
What Shall I do with my Wings Now? 12
A Last Dance on Canberra’s Lake
The Blue Shirt 13
I Am not Singing 14
Dead Tales 15
A Drop of your Heart 16
Floating Cities 18
Sunflower 19
Snowman 20
Dancing under the Rain 22
The Carnival’s Night 23
Rosella 24
Broken Piano Keys 25
Naked 26
We Grew up One Morning 28
Eleven Moons 30
The Lake Dancer 33
Horses of Snow 35
Sparrows of the Nile Palace Bridge
The Cairo of Love 36
Close Your Eyes 38
Nile Palace Bridge 39
Don’t Believe the River’s Tears 40 The Dance of the Mummy 41
If only We Had enough Colours 42 Violet Haemorrhage 43
The Nile’s Wound 44
The Swing of Love Is Falling 45
Oh Sea, Be My Witness 46
The Dance of the Infatuated spirits 47
The Face of Time 49
Our Arabesque Window 50
The Harp Player 51
An Apple 52
Inscribed on My Skin 53
No Intercessor four Our Love 55
A Memory over Cairo 56
Our Days on the Nile 57
A Sun for a Blue Shirt
Laced Memory 58
A Toast 59
Haemorrhage over the Seine 60
Two Faces 62
Moon Flakes 63
The Destiny of Lovers 64
Whenever We Touch 66
I Forgot My Face 67
The Gardens of Light 68
Naked under the Sun
In Praise of the Coming Generations 69
The Horses of Dreams 70
Love’s Farewell 71
Dancing on the Eyelash of the Universe 72
I love to Die in Your Eyes 74
Your Eyes are My Favourite Book 76
I Live by the Grace of Your Eyes 77
Sparrows Shall Rip the Heavens’ Chest 78
Naked under the Sun 80
Would the Two Rocks Meet? 82
A Secret Letter from Beirut 84
Friday, Sunday by Khaled Ziadé
Translated by Raghid Nahhas. Kalimat Publications, Sydney 2005
My Affinity with Khalid Ziadé— A Translator’s Perspective
What attracted me most to translating this work is the personal presence in some of the lines Khalid Ziadé moulds out of very simple words to describe his generation’s life-long history in Tripoli, his Medi-terranean birthplace. The reason this personal presence appeals to me may be that I belong to the same generation and I was born in Damascus, Syria. The populations of both cities share many traditions and values, but one important difference between Tripoli and Damascus is the interaction between city and State. Damascus is predominantly a Moslem city, and the capital of a predominantly Moslem country. Tripoli, on the other hand, is predominantly a Moslem city in a country controlled by Maronite Christians, although composed of sectarian populations of comparable numbers, mainly Maronites, other Christians, Sunni Moslems, Shiite Moslems and Druze. In his narrative about city and State, Ziadé touches on the sensitive issue of the aspirations of his city conflicting with those of the State, but mirroring the predominant aspirations of the Arabs (in any Arab State) at the time, namely their strong affiliation with Arab nationalism. Politics has always been inseparable from the cultural norms of Arab families. Ziadé informs us how his generation defined itself during a culturally vibrant era in the history of the Middle East as it starts to face the 1960s, a period of great cultural significance to the whole world. Ziadé might well be talking about himself throughout the book, but this is not his biography. On some occasions, I felt he was talking about me, my father, my friends, our home, our lane in the old quarter of Damascus where narrow arched paths connected homes with internal open yards, and our new home in a multi-story building in one of the modern quarters of the city to which we made a transition in the nineteen sixties. Ziadé’s concern for the human aspects of civilisation is matched by his concern for its architectural manifestations. Although not articulated in a literary or philosophical fashion, he has a deep sense of the “dwelling” as a focal point of activity and enjoyment. This is very appealing to me. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Damian Boyle, Manfred Jurgensen, Sophie Masson, Bruce Pascoe, Eva Sallis and L.E. Scott who, in their capacity as advisers to Kalimat, reviewed various parts of my translation as it was serialised in Kalimat between 2000 and 2003.
CONTENTS
My Affinity with Khalid Ziadé— A Translator’s Perspective 5
Prelude 7
A Biography of a Civilisation 13
Leisure Time 31
The Night 43
The Mediterranean 55
The Bygone Days 69
Moslems and Christians 79
Friday and Sunday 91
City and State 103
Images and Thought 115
City Streets 127
The Transition to the Sixties 139
The Author 153
The Translator 155
Papers of Solitude
A Poetry Collection by Shawki Moslemani, Kalimat Publications, Sydney 2004
Translated by Raghid Nahhas & Noel Abdulahad
CONTENTS
Smoke 9
Cities 10
Dust 11
Dead Ones 13
Madman 14
When they Awoke 15
Circles 16
Screaming 17
Graveyard 18
Night 19
Locust 20
Robot 21
Most 22
He Does not Turn His Face 23
The Lakes of Sand 24
Someone Who Looks Like You 25
Stone 27
Absent 28
Optimist 29
Strangers 30
Whips 31
Harvest 32
Another Herb 33
Voices 34
A Fang 35
Departure 36
Group 37
Bill on the Other Side of the Road 38
Fetch the Bottle 39
Abdullah 40
Hope 41 Cawnin 42
The Departed 44
Beirut 45
What Do You Want? 46
Corner 48
They Said 49 Naked 50
A Window to the Sea 51
Where the Wolf Is
A poetry collection by Shawki Moslemani, Kalimat Publications, Sydney 2004
Translated by Noel Abdulahad & Raghid Nahhas
CONTENTS
The Colour of the Glass 39
A Tree 40
An Eye in Disguise 41
Again 42
Blood 43 Smoke 44
A Bird in Town 45
The Eternal Egg 46
The Dawn 47
A Glance 48
The Race 49
An Idea 50
A Garden 51
The Absentee 52
Another Bird 53
Phantoms 54
Other Skies 55
We Almost 56
A Legal Opinion 57
Emptiness of the Cage 58
Immanence 59 Eternity 60
The Response of Light 61
Whispers from the Faraway South
Translations into Arabic of works by 79 Australian poets (Alabgdya, Damascus, Syria 1999)
This work was assisted by a grant from the Australia Council, the arts funding and advisory body of the Commonwealth Government of Australia.
Here is my introduction to the collection.
Poetry is an ultimate act of creativity. The Arab World I was brought up in is often described as a nation of poets. The Arabs’ passion about poetry can be traced back even to the time before writing became commonplace. The Arabs used to memorise and recite poetry. The famous annual poetry festival in Mecca in pre-Islamic Arabia was an event in which outstanding poets were rewarded by allowing their winning poems to be written in calligraphy and hung on the walls of the Kaaba, the renowned black-stone structure in Mecca that hosted statues of pagan gods, and later became the holiest Islamic shrine towards which Moslems all over the world direct themselves whilst in prayer. Poetry continues to be a major literary practice in the Arab World. Arabs of all religious and ideological categories contribute to this art. Interestingly, admiration of poetry and the pride Arabs have taken in it, often led some of them to believe that their poetry is second to none, and that the richness of the Arabic language (that is also the language of the Holy Koran) makes it imperative, they think, that the best poetry can only be produced by them. Only Arab academics would have read original non-Arabic poetry. The first attempt, I am aware of, to expose the Arabs to Australian poetry was the publication of a special issue of al-Adaab al-Ajnabya with the assistance of Anne Fairbairn as explained in the section dedicated to her poetry in the present book. More recently, an anthology of Australian poetry in Arabic has been published (Saba M. 1998. Mukhtar al-Shi’r al-Australi. Dar Aljadeed, Beirut, Lebanon). There is, however, a need to continue to communicate Australian poetry to the common Arab reader. Australian poetry is an intricate continuum of cultural and historical creations that originate from various sources internal and external to the Australian continent. This is not surprising considering the diverse social structure of this land. Australian poetry in the present book means poetry written in Australia by persons who experienced both the cultural and geographical landscapes of this unique island continent. It is a poetry of richness and diversity that mirrors the nation. It is also a poetry that ventured beyond the continent, sometimes by joining the war effort (e.g. Kenneth Slessor), travelling (e.g. R. F. Brissenden), or even just closing the eyes and dreaming (Anne Fairbairn). What attracts me most is the many ventures of the mind (e.g. A.D. Hope). The poems translated in the present book are almost entirely selected by the Australian poet Anne Fairbairn to give us an idea about the development of Australian poetry. The selection is personal. I did not myself intend to select any poems for the purpose of the present collection because I did not want the technicalities of translation to compromise the selection. I, however, selected Fairbairn’s poems, in addition to three other poems. Translation can be a controversial issue for some. My general philosophy in this respect is that no good translation can be or should be better than the original; otherwise it might be a distortion. Similarly, no good translator can recreate a badly written original and still calls it a true and correct translation. Whilst, I believe that these principles apply even to poetry, we should not lose sight of the fact that poetry translation requires a more sophisticated treatment. This is particularly the result of the increased need to understand the codes and cultures of both the source and target languages. The trick is to select the right code rather than the exact corresponding word. The emphasis should be on the intended original meaning, or on the spirit rather than the mere technicalities. This usually means that some imagination and creativity are needed in the process, particularly in the choice of terms from the target language that can convey the original meaning and appeal to the new readership. One simple way of looking at this process is putting myself in the shoes of the poet. I wrote the poem in English, and now I am going to tell it in Arabic. I want to tell the same thing with the same beauty in either languages. I am the same spirit that is using different tools to haunt the hearts with the same rate of heartbeat. Every individual poem was a challenge by its own merit. Every individual poem was for me a learning exercise in Australian poetry as well as in the art of translation. The joy I obtained from doing this work is only surpassed by the joy of writing my own articles. What I read in the poems and in the biographies of the Australian poets makes me very proud and honoured indeed to have had this opportunity in dealing with such fine human beings, be it in spirit or in reality. Those poets who I had the chance to speak to directly or to correspond with regarding obtaining their consent were, without hesitation, extremely helpful and supportive.
Raghid Nahhas
Sydney, Australia 1999
MAIN CONTENTS
Aranda Song - Ankotarinya
Corroboree Song - Flood Water
Charles Harpur - from A Coast View
Henry Kendall - The Last of His Tribe
anon - The Convict’s Rum Song
A. B. paterson - Pioneers
Mary Gilmore - An Aboriginal Simile
Barcroft Boake - An Allegory
Henry Lawson - Ned’s Delicate way
Charles W. Hayward - King George V
Christopher Brennan - from The Quest of Scielence
J. Shaw Neilson - The Orange Tree
anon - The Railway Train
Robert D. FitzGerald - Edge
Kenneth Slessor - Beach Burial
A.D. Hope - The Death of the Bird
Elizabeth Riddell - After Lunik Two
Roland Robinson - Altjeringa
John Bray - Address to the pigeons in Hurtle Street
Douglas Stewart - Marree
John Manifold - Garcia Lorca Murdered in Granada
David Campbell - Night Sawing
Judith Wright - The Company of Lovers
James Mcauley - Tune For Swans
anon - from the diary of Australian soldier
Jack Davis - Day Flight
Gwen Harwood - In the Park
Rosemary Dobson - The Three Fates
Buluguru - Working Song
Oodjeroo - Dawn Wail for the Dead
Anne Edgeworth - In Memoriam James McCaulay
Geoffrey Dutton - Time of Waitin
Eric Rolls - Rain Poem
Francis Webb - The Gunner
anon - Wenberi’s Song
Vincent Buckley - Youth Leader
Alan Riddell - Goldfish at an Angle
R. F. Brissenden - Walking Down Jalan Thamrin
R.A. Simpson - Antarctica
Peter Porte - What I have Written I Have Written
Mackenzie Munro - Tiger Moth
Bruce Dawe - The Flag of the Future
Evan Jones - Noah’s Song
Vivian Smith - Tasmania
Chris Wallace-Crabbe - The Secular
David Malouf - Guide to the Perplexed
Thomas Shapcott - Water
Randolph Stow - Ishmael
Carmel Gaffney - To a Scottish Carmelite
Judith Rodriguez - A Lifetime
Devoted to Literature
Les Murray - Below Bronte House
Anne Fairbairn - High Country Dreaming
J.S. Harry - Honesty-Stones
Geoff Page - Country Nun
Geoffrey Lehmann - Song For Past Midnight
Roger McDonald - Components
Margaret Bradstock - The Mask
John Tranter - The Death Circus
Robert Adamson - Sonnet to Be Written From Prison
Robert Gray - Cattle
Alison Clark - The Moon Behind Branches
Lynette Kirby - To Dance on Stones
Mark O’Conner - Fire
Michael Sharkey - Poem For Translation Into Any Other Tongue
Paul Knobel - My Homeland
Michael Dransfield - Rainpoem
Alan Gould - Pearls
Jennifer maiden - Dew
Ian Campbell - Leaving Beirut
Robert Harris - Isiah by Kerosene Lantern Light
Martin Langford - Querulous
James Taylor - Blind Persian Fish
John Foulcher - After the Flood
David Brooks - Mosquitoes
Andrew Lansdown - Two Men
Judith Beveridge - Catching Webs
Paul Hetherington - Textures
Mike Ladd - Tiger Snake
Jemal Sharah - Revelation
