كناية

A poem by: Hikmet Elhadj *

(This poem is deliberately dedicated to the poet Hussein Ali Younis)

We left you in the Manfa, comrade,
and left you alone in the diaspora.
Every step is a resurrection,
Every word is an exhalation,
Every hope is a death,
Every breath of wind in the cold country is a breeze from the heights of Baghdad that crushes it and turns it to ashes.
All the sadness we shed as strangers,
You suffered from it on the revolutionary corner in “Tayaran Square”, when
Our hair has turned white and lingered, and
The sea between us became a mirage
We will not meet again, my friend, for that is a dream.
The Tigris and Euphrates are the dream of mothers who save their milk for the return of their sons from the battlefronts.
Why do I see you standing in this Sunset?
Get up, my friend, and read to us the Verse “Al-Hujurat,” for victory is coming despite everything, my friend.
Say Hail to Upcoming Manfa,
Victory is coming with the dawn, Comrade.

* The Iraqi poet Hussein Ali Younis says in one of his poems: “My friends left me and left me alone in exile.” This is my poetic variation on this immortal verse.