PAESAGG 2

	il-lejl imtedd minn tulu fuq l-eghlieqi
	u maqbudin mill-gwienah
	l-aghsafar xaffru d-dlam ighajtu
	mill-ingassa tal-wajar

	minn gos-sigra tal-bajtar
	tliet nisa hafjin
	hargu jirfsu l-lejl

		l-aghsafar xtaqu li kienu nisa
		in-nisa xtaqu l-gwienah

	taht is-sigra tal-bajtar
	seba' subien mongoli
	missew is-suf ta' bejn saqajhom
	u bkew biex ommhom tahsilhom

	donnhom l-aghsafar biss jipprotestaw

	MARIO AZZOPARDI
	---------------------

	LANDSCAPE 2

	night spread across the fields
	and caught by their wings
	in a wire trap
	birds shrieked piercing the darkness

	out of the tree of prickly pear
	three barefoot women
	emerged treading on the night

		the birds wished they were women
		the women wished wings

	beneath the cactus tree
	seven mongol boys
	touched the hair between their thighs
	and cried for mother to wash them

	only the birds seem to protest

	(Translation by GRAZIO FALZON)
	________________________________________


	KANNIZZATA

	Mnejn tiela' l-blat
	hemm roqgha demm
	ta' xi hadd li miet ghall-bahar.

	Minn gos-slaleb tal-kannizzata
	nizlet mara mnezzgha bhall-ilma
	w f'ruhha mera
	lmaht kull genna t'art li tlift.
	Kull ciklu solitudni
	li ghazilt minflok min habbni.

	Xi hadd ghad jizbalja r-roqgha demm
	fil-bahar.

	Minn gos-slaleb tal-kannizzata
	mal-mara mnezzgha tifrex dielja
	bl-gheneb mimli nemel....

	MARIO AZZOPARDI
	-----------------

	TRELLIS

	From where the rock rises
	a patch of blood
	marks someone who lost his life to the sea.

	Through the trellis I spied
	a woman naked as water
	her soul
	paradise abjured.
	Solitude
	preferred to my love.

	Someone will mistake the patch of blood
	in the sea.

	In the lattice
	over the naked woman
	climbs a grapevine
	quivering with ants...

	(Translation by GRAZIO FALZON)
	___________________________________________


	IL-LEJLA L-QAMAR QED JITWERREC

	il-lejla l-qamar qed jitwerrec
	u sabni mixhut ghall-qiegha f'tebut tal-hgieg
	il-lejla m'inix hafdhom iz-zkuk tas-sigar
	b'idejhom mifruxa fl-isfond ta' l-imwiet
	il-lejla l-weraq musfara qed jaqghu diskreti
	magembi f'tebut tal-hgieg suspettuzi
	il-lejla l-qamar qed jitwerrec
	u l-wurdien sajfi rega rxoxta
	jhabbat gwinhajh mal-kaxxa tal-hgieg

		u l-qamar qed jinghi dmugh id-demm
		u d-dwiefer ta' zkuk is-sigar qed icarrtu
		imbiccer il-firmament
		u l-weraq isfar qed jinghasar
		u l-wurdien sajfi selah gwinhajh
		ihabbat mal-ghatu fuq wicci

	MARIO AZZOPARDI
	----------------------------------


	TONIGHT A CROSS-EYED MOON

	tonight a cross-eyed moon
	caught me in a glass coffin
	tonight I don't trust trees:
	limbs reaching into the realms of death
	tonight yellow leaves fall softly
	warily beside me
	summer cockroaches resurrected
	are flapping against a box of glass

		the moon is wailing tears of blood
		clawed limbs are slashing
		a savaged firmament
		yellow foliage is squeezed
		cockroaches mangle their wings
		beating against the lid over my face

	(Translation by GRAZIO FALZON)
	__________________________________________________


	AHN'ILMA JGELGEL

	L-istorja taghna trid tintemm xi darba
	bhall-ilma mqalleb li jsir ilma-qieghed,
	bhall-gebla li titgerbeb sa ssib postha,
	bhall-pindlu ta' l-arlogg li fl-ahhar jieqaf.

	Kull lejla meta jinzel dlam fuq djarna,
	u wliedna jistaqsuna xi jkun gara,
	naqilbu l-kliem ghax ma nafux inwiegbu,
	u nghannu l0innu stramb li twieled maghna:
	"Ahn'ilma jgelgel u hadd ma jixorbu
	ghax il-mewg taghna fih il-melh tal-qerda.
	Ahna gebliet li nqlajna mill-imqades
	t'allat li mardu w mietu iddisprati
	fi glieda ta' bejniethom. Ahna pindlu
	li wasal biex tinhlielu l-energija."

	OLIVER FRIGGIERI
	--------------------

	
	WE'RE GURGLING WATER

	Our history will peter out someday
	like turbulent waters getting clogged,
	like a rolling stone grinding to a halt,
	like the terminal tick-tock of a clock.

	When at dusk darkness descends on our homes
	our children ask us what happened today.
	Not knowing the andswer, we just change tack
	and hum the strange anthem twinborn with us:
	"We're gurgling water nobody will drink
	because its waves contain a lethal salt.
	We're stones displaced from ancient temples
	of gods in despair, sickened unto death
	at war among themselves. We're pendula
	whose energy is dwindling down to nought."

	(Translation by Peter Serracino Inglott)

______________________________________________________________

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