SAADI YOUSSEF

TRANS. BY KHALED MATTAWA

CLOUDY SATURDAY

Fog on the Mediterranean.
No bird flashing through the window glass.
No seagull cry
and the Moroccan flag is shriveled above the treasury building.
Who commanded the sun to come so late?
Who brought the machinery of ice here, to Tangier's alleys?
I took my escape south, to flee London
and that desolate continent.
But snow is now following me here!
Still, I’ll wait for the sun,
for Africa
and the storks (they nest in the minaret steeple),
I will wait for their song!

Saadi Youssef (1934-2021) is considered one of the most important contemporary poets in the Arab world. He was born near Basra, Iraq. Following his experience as a political prisoner in Iraq, he spent most of his life in exile, working as a teacher and literary journalist throughout North Africa and the Middle East. He is the author of over forty books of poetry, two novels, a short story collection, and several books nonfiction.

Khaled Mattawa is the William Wilhartz Professor of English Language and Literature at the University of Michigan. His latest book of poems is Fugitive Atlas (Graywolf, 2020). A MacArthur Fellow, he is the current editor of Michigan Quarterly Review.