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Moroccan Poet Abdellatif Laâbi

Moderators: MoniqueMaRie, dakanga

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panyamnyenyekevu
Ukraine

Moroccan Poet Abdellatif Laâbi

Post by panyamnyenyekevu »

A favorite poem from my favorite website.

https://www.poetrytranslation.org/poems

Il faut passer des nuits
blanches

Il faut passer des nuits blanches, au moins
quatre fois l'an.

Je ne trouve pas assez de fous autour
de moi pour en faire davantage.
Une nuit blanche, ça ne veut rien quand on
est seul. Elle exige le partage. Alors la ville
s'offre sans penser à la mort. Les
gargouilles font leur travail d'exorciste. Les
muezzins se soûlent au coin des rues. Il y a
toujours un couple qui se marie à l'aube,
par tirage au sort. Le Chant des partisans
devient une chanson à boire. Iblis se fait
lyrique et distribue aux communiants des
pommes rouges, non piégées. Les pieds
foulent un trésor d'étoiles. Le sexe monte à
la bouche comme le citron de l'huître.

Seuls les vagabonds peuvent être des
poètes.

[An] English Translation:

Burn the Midnight Oil

You must stay up all night at least four
times a year.

There aren't enough crazy people
around me to go further than that.
A single sleepless night isn't worth much
when you're on your own. It needs to be
shared. Only then does the city open up to
you without thoughts of death. Gargoyles
carry out their work as exorcists. Muezzins
get drunk on street corners. There is always
a couple who get married at dawn by
drawing lots. The Partisans' Chant becomes
a drinking song. Satan starts to wax lyrical
and hands out unbaited, red apples to the
worshippers. Feet trample on a treasure-
hoard of stars. The taste of sex rises in the
mouth like lemon on oysters.

Only vagabonds can be poets.

🇺🇦

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