AWEJ. Special Issue on Translation No.3 May, 2014 Pp. 256-259
Poetry
Taken in With Void
Saeed Ateeq Al Qubaisi
Translation: Zalfa Rihani
Beirut 2010
Like a child
Like an orphan grew in the void
Like the closeness of void
The need of this void for time
To recall
The need of this void for hope
To hold
I love you
Like the shroud of void
You are in my mind
So do
Make me full of your warmth
And soon after that
Your being
In the void pour
Where longings disquiet
To the pulse of void
Like void
As always
I am desolate
So author my birth in words
Maybe
Life
When it pours
Will sprout from soil
Surging with memories
A smile
Like the pledge of void
Forgot he was
All waiting for nothing
But
Void
Here comes void
For promises of mouths
Brimmed with life
Not so
To prevail there was void
Like void
Everlasting
I yearn for him
And yearns for me
In a time
Deeming hearts
Urging to each other
In veil
Stifling every void
Innocent
And those partings
Among the minutes
Swindling every meaning of life
Crippling void
From visions in the dream
Until
It has come to be bits of misery
Wandering without hope for
Eternal space
A roaming echo in the void
Floating
I love you
Saeed Ateeq Al Qubaisi is an Emirati poet and writer born in Abu Dhabi. He grew up in a home known for its interest in literature and culture. He wrote poetry at an early age and participated in several poetry contests and recitals, such as the First Poetry Forum of the Gulf for Students (2004), The Emir of Poets Show (2009), and The Hall of Poetry Recital (2010), Sharjah Forum for Arabic Poetry (2011). His first collection of poetry entitled “Taken in With Void” was published in 2011. Currently, Mr. Al Qubaisi works for the Kalima Project, an initiative of the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage, while continuing his graduate studies.
Zalfa Rihani is a Fulbright scholar from Aleppo, Syria. She has a PhD in English from the University of Toledo and as post-doctoral degree in translation from the University of Arkansas, where she won the 2002 Lily Peter Translation Award for her translation of Nizar Qabbani’ s poetry into English. She worked as assistant professor in the Translation Studies Department at United Arab Emirates University in 2007. Then she joined Translation Bureau, Public Works and Government Services Canada as senior translator and language advisor. Dr. Rihani rejoined UAEU in 2013 as a visiting professor in Translation Studies Department and later as assistant professor in the same department.