When War Lays Down its Burdens

By Al-Asmai Bshry

(1)

Before the war broke out,
here
in Khartoum,
just a moment ago,
as I was returning at the end of the day,
I saw the miserable streets,
I saw the impoverished children,
I saw the beggars,
crossing with half a soul,
ambulances
plundering the streets,
at all times,
nothing remained,
except the sounds of gunfire,
without feeling,
gradually,
gradually,
Khartoum plunges into its terrible war,
its delayed
and fateful war,
for a thousand and a half years,
the Blue sultanate will not return,
and Abu Lkeilk
will not play his favorite game,
the egg
and the stone,
no,
this time it is red,
and the gamble,
a wound and a fissure,
and behold,
there is no hope.

(2)

When the war broke out,
I observed it at the beginning;
just a ceremony for soldiers,
exchanging gunfire,
and dancing on each others bodies,
gradually, gradually,
I started to feel fear,
if not for my friend who said to me:
Dont be afraid,
just savor it.
I went out to the street to drink coffee,
I found the soldiers
occupying the wooden benches,
and in the evening,
they guarded the bars,
and during the day, they looted the markets.
I felt fear,
so I called my friend,
he told me: Exchange poetry with them,
they threatened to orphan my children,
and blocked my path.
I felt fear,
so my friend said to me:
Escape!

(3)

After war lays down its burdens,
I will remain here,
where I was displaced,
I will forget the poet I used to be there,
and tear up all his old papers,
I will abandon a group of neighborhood friends,
and the remorseful of municipal bars,
and the friends of gardens,
and the pseudo-friends,
I will disavow all the years of wastage,
and avoid talking again,
about modernity,
and the state of citizenship,
I will hide in shame,
whenever by chance
I come across a title of a book in philosophy,
or history,
or anthropology,
I will teach my children how to drink milk
from a goats udder,
and plant onions,
and animal feed,
and potatoes,
and when my wife forgets, even once,
to kiss me,
I will burst with anger,
and say to her, Youre worthless.