DO YOU KNOW
© Farouk Asvat
Do you know what you enter
When you enter these dark caves
That give name to a house
Where the mad laugh
With the knowledge of the wise;
That make men leave their burial grounds
To sweat and heave in dark tunnels
Only to come back to haunted kraals
Talking with blood in their mouths;
When you come
Into the sanctuary of this mosque
Singing hymns decorated with love
Where the muezzin sleeps
Only to cry out in pain
Chanting against usurpers
That walk like ghosts
Where once our mothers sang
Sad lilting songs of celebration;
As I sit up in bed
- Oh these sleepless nights
That bring forth a sewer of
words -
My insane blood already coursing
Through tombs and huts of cold mud
To awaken in me these lines
Filled with a plea
As you sleep restlessly beside me
Not aware
Of the pain that lives here
Beating to the discordant rhythm
Of the troubled night,
A nation stirring from sleep
Once again
Entering into a pledge of darkness
Burnt by the fires of their own desires.
Or is that why you stay?
For even I do not know
Why you cry when I'm away
Or sob and heave with happiness
Beneath my thrusting limbs;
Yes, even I,
Who belong to the wind and the light
Do not know why you stay
To still these trembling lips
On the verge of so many tears
© farouk asvat
composed: 1985 [Johannesburg, South Africa
under apartheid]
[] Acknowledgements:
Do You Know was previously published in:
A Celebration of Flames
(donker, p55, 1987);
A Celebration of Flames
(Heller Fund, UC Berkeley, California, USA, p47, 1988);
Matatu 5(3) ed
G Davis, M Manaka (Göttingen, Germany, p11, 1989);
Weet Je: Dutch translation by Irene Scheltes
(1989);
African
Literature In The Eighties (Matatu 10), ed D
Riemenschneider, F Schulze-Engler,
(Rodopi, Amsterdam, Netherlands & Atlanta,
1993);
A Celebration Of Flames
(piquant publications, p69, 2007);
www.faroukasvat-poems.blogspot.com (12.06.2012);
A Celebration Of Flames (amazon paperback, p68, 2014);
A Celebration Of Flames (kindle, 2014).
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]
the NOVEL Sadness In The House Of Love by Farouk Asvat
is now available on amazon: paperback @ $15 &
kindle @ only $5
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the NOVEL The Gathering Of The Storm by Farouk
Asvat
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the anthology I Dream In Long Sentences by Farouk
Asvat
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the anthology The Wind Still Sings Sad Songs by Farouk
Asvat
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the anthology A Celebration Of Flames by Farouk Asvat
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the anthology Bra Frooks … by Farouk
Asvat
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the collection of
literary essays Weapons of Words by Farouk
Asvat
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© farouk asvat. All rights reserved.
Farouk
Asvat asserts his moral right to be
identified as the author of this work.
No part of this publication may
be reproduced by any means whatsoever, or transmitted in any form or any means
whatsoever, mechanical or electronic, including recording, printing,
photocopying, or via any computerised means or media, including the
internet. This publication shall also
not be stored in a retrieval system. And
the writing shall not be sold, lent, hired, resold or circulated in any form or
binding or cover other than that in which it is published,
without the prior permission of the author in writing.
Permission
to publish or reproduce the writings in any format can be obtained from the author.
Reproduction
of this work without permission, except for scholarly & nonprofit purposes,
is
liable to a payment of 10, 000 ren men bi or US$ 1,500.
farouk asvat can be contacted at: farouk.asvat@gmail.com
[] please check out my blogs @:
weapons of words: www.faroukasvat-viewpoint.blogspot.com
piquante: www.faroukasvat-piquant.blogspot.com
books by farouk asvat: www.faroukasvat-books.blogspot.com
[] also link up on:
google+: www.google.com/+faroukasvat
linkedin: www.linkedin.com/farouk-asvat
facebook: www.facebook.com/faroukasvat
youtube: www.youtube.com/c/faroukasvat
twitter: www.twitter.com/faroukasvat
_______________________________________________________
WEET JE
Dutch translation
by Irene Scheltes
Weet je waar je
binnengaat
Wanneer je deze
donkere holen betreedt
Die een huis naam
geven
Waar de gekken
lachen
Met de kennis der
wijzen;
Die maken dat
mannen hun kerkhof verlaten
Om te zweten en
te zwoegen in donkere tunnels
Om terug
te keren naar drukke kralen
Sprekend
met bloed in hun mond;
Wanneer je
binnenkomt
In het
heiligdomvan deze moskee
Hymnen
zingend met liefde getooid
Waar de
muezzin enkel slaapt
Om het uit te
schreeuwen van pijn
Om te zingen
tegen overweldigers
Die als geesten
lopen
Waar ooit onze
moeders loflied'ren
zongen
Op een treurig
wijsje;
Ik zit rechtop in
bed
- O slapeloze nachten
Waar een beerput van woorden uit
voortkomt -
Mijn krankzinnig
bloed stroomt reeds
Door tomben en
koudlemen hutten
Om in mij deze
regels te wekken
Gevuld met een
pleidooi
Terwijl jij
reusteloos naast me slaapt
Onbewust
Van de pijn die
hier leeft
Kloppend op het
verstoorde ritme
Van de onrustige
nacht
Een natie roert
zich in haar slaap
Laat zich opnieuw
Met een duistere
belofte in
Verbrand door het
vuur van hun eigen begeerten.
Of blijf je juist
daarom?
Want zelfs ik
weet niet
Waarom je huilt
als ik weg ben
Of snikkend van
geluk beweegt
Onder mijn
duwende leden
Ja, zelfs ik,
Die de wind en
het licht toebehhoor
Weet niet
waarom je blijft
Om deze
trillende lippen te stillen
Aan de
rand van zoveel tranen.
Dutch
translation by kind permission of © Irene
Scheltes
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]
the NOVEL Sadness In The House Of Love by Farouk Asvat
is now available on amazon: paperback @ $15 &
kindle @ only $5
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]
#love #literature #fiction #novel #poetry
#southafrica #apartheid #books #classics
#weapons of words #comparative literature
#literary criticism
#faroukasvat #a celebration of flames #do you know
