June 2009
The Bleating of Copper

by Amjad Nasser translated from the Arabic by Khaled Mattawa

Fathers
told us about raids
and deaths avenged,
but they never told us about martyrs.
The bells of the flock
were everything;
the bleating of copper
that never ceased its ringing.
And the rivers and oases
that slipped from under
the hooves of their horses at night!
Night and horses—
is this what history is all about?