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  • كُلُّ شيء …
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كُلُّ شيء …

Khalid Albudoor

كلُّ شيءٍ في مكانِهِ
مِرآتُكِ
أحجارُكِ
آنيةُ الطيبِ
حنَّاءٌ جافٌّ لأجلِ عيدٍ سيأتي
مَقعَدٌ خالٍ،
قميصُ الصَّيفِ الماضي
رائِحَتُكِ فوق َ الوسادةِ
ما تَرَكَتْهُ شَفتاكِ
من طعمِ قُبلةِ اليومِ الأخير.

كلُّ شيءٍ
حتى الشمسُ التي رأيتُها
تهبِطُ خلفَ شُرفَتِنا
ما زالت في مكانِها
لكنَّكِ
لسْتِ هُنا.


Khalid Albudoor

from Gathering the Tide: An Anthology of Contemporary Arabian Gulf Poetry, edited by Patty Paine, Samia Touati and Jeff Lodge (Reading: Ithaca, 2011)

Reproduced by kind permission of the author.

Tags:

Islam longing memory rituals United Arab Emirates

Translations of this Poem

Everything

Everything is in place
Your mirror
Your gem stones
The burning oil pot
The henna pot
For the Eid to come.
An empty chair
Last summer’s shirt
Your scent on the pillow
Remnants of our last day’s kiss
Everything is there
Even the sun
We saw sinking behind our balcony
Everything, but you

Source: from Gathering the Tide: An Anthology of Contemporary Arabian Gulf Poetry, edited by Patty Paine, Samia Touati and Jeff Lodge (Reading: Ithaca, 2011). Translated by the author, reproduced by his kind permission.

About this poem

This poem, representing the United Arab Emirates, is part of The Written World – our collaboration with BBC radio to broadcast a poem from every single nation competing in London 2012.

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Khalid Albudoorb.1961

Khalid Albudoor was born in Dubai in 1961. After studying at the University of the United Arab Emirates, he attained a Masters in Scriptwriting at Ohio University in the United States. His first poetry was published in 1980, and...
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