Two Poems by Sargon Boulus

After the roads

In the shade of a wall, I rest my burdens

after I have crossed the roads

and the eternal storm

wailing in my head’s grottos

is finally content with silence

beneath the wing of a vulture

fallen in the ruins

where the crime happened…

The wolf hovers around

near the camps of wounded:

In his eyes a thicket of claws

but a star might appear.

A faithful star might appear for us. 

To A Visitor after the Apocalypse

If you come knocking

at the end of history’s night

on the door

and the butchers are asleep

over their victims’ shreds

If you finally come

to fulfill the dream

of the wounded miserables

with your blessings

after the flood recedes

and the last cries of war. . .

And if an Eve, rubbing her eyes, sleepy

opens up

Then shove Eve aside

kick (and hit!)

the serpent’s head

so that it returns

to the Torah’s cave in haste

Then stab your cigarette stub

between Adam’s lips

and ask this creature:

“Why?”

And begin the interrogation…

From Sargon Boulus’s (1944-2007) al-Awwal wal-Tali (Cologne: Dar al-Jamal, 1992)