Yemeniya
Thursday, 13 October 2011
Wednesday, 28 September 2011
From Exile to Exile by Yemeni Poet Abd Allah Al Baraduni
From Exile To Exile
My country is handed over from one tyrant
to the next, a worse tyrant;
from one prison to another,
from one exile to another.
It is colonized by the observed
invader and the hidden one;
handed over by one beast to two
like an emaciated camel.
In the caverns of its death
my country neither dies
nor recovers. It digs
in the muted graves looking
for its pure origins
for its springtime promise
that slept behind its eyes
for the dream that will come
for the phantom that hid.
it moves from one overwhelming
night to a darker night.
My country grieves
in its own boundaries
and in other people's land
and even on its own soil
suffers the alienation
of exile.
Translated by Diana Der Hovanessian with Sharif Elmusa
My country is handed over from one tyrant
to the next, a worse tyrant;
from one prison to another,
from one exile to another.
It is colonized by the observed
invader and the hidden one;
handed over by one beast to two
like an emaciated camel.
In the caverns of its death
my country neither dies
nor recovers. It digs
in the muted graves looking
for its pure origins
for its springtime promise
that slept behind its eyes
for the dream that will come
for the phantom that hid.
it moves from one overwhelming
night to a darker night.
My country grieves
in its own boundaries
and in other people's land
and even on its own soil
suffers the alienation
of exile.
Translated by Diana Der Hovanessian with Sharif Elmusa
Saturday, 28 May 2011
On the brink of Taghyir
I set out to write about hunger in Yemen. But what do I know about it? About real hunger in Yemen? Nothing. So instead I'll write about something else. Change.
Young people in Yemen are calling for change. That's why they called the square "Taghyir" (change) not "Tahrir" (freedom). People are relatively free to speak their minds in Yemen. They do it all the time during the qat sessions. Their lack of freedom stems from poverty.
Young people have aspirations and they have the confidence and intelligence to move forward in their lives but they don't have the means. When you speak to a young Yemeni, the first thing that strikes you is how articulate they are. They are proud of who they are and you'd best not forget it! They don't want charity (though in the short term that may be necessary). They want jobs and an opportunity to contribute to their societies to gain respect in the eyes of their peers and eventually to raise the next generation.
So in a country rich in tradition, history, literature, poetry, architecture, agriculture, mineral resources, music and humour, why are the people so poor? Their lies the rub. It shouldn't be that way and the youth know it.
They have said they won't move from Change square. In other words they won't move until there is change. And change won't happen until the elders step back, make some room, allow others to be heard and LISTEN.
Young people in Yemen are calling for change. That's why they called the square "Taghyir" (change) not "Tahrir" (freedom). People are relatively free to speak their minds in Yemen. They do it all the time during the qat sessions. Their lack of freedom stems from poverty.
Young people have aspirations and they have the confidence and intelligence to move forward in their lives but they don't have the means. When you speak to a young Yemeni, the first thing that strikes you is how articulate they are. They are proud of who they are and you'd best not forget it! They don't want charity (though in the short term that may be necessary). They want jobs and an opportunity to contribute to their societies to gain respect in the eyes of their peers and eventually to raise the next generation.
So in a country rich in tradition, history, literature, poetry, architecture, agriculture, mineral resources, music and humour, why are the people so poor? Their lies the rub. It shouldn't be that way and the youth know it.
They have said they won't move from Change square. In other words they won't move until there is change. And change won't happen until the elders step back, make some room, allow others to be heard and LISTEN.
Friday, 22 April 2011
Yemeniya finds her voice
As an Arab whose first language is English I firstly want to say that my relationship to Arabic as a spoken and written language is complicated. My receptive Arabic is fluent but my expressive isn't. I told you it was complicated!
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