Tonight, I Die..

Iraqi dialect language poem by: Kadhim Ismail Al-Gata’a (1950-2012)
Translated by: Hikmet Elhadj *

Tonight, I die.. tonight is the last night,
The clouds stretched their hands over my head,
And the rain gathered its strength,
Tonight, the drops of life trickle slowly...
Oh Mother, I beg you,
hold me close in the darkness of your Veil.

Tonight, the night charged at me with the horses of darkness,
Where can I find the strength to repel its steeds?
My thoughts of death have confused me, oh...
How will my coffin reach our home?
And who will carry it and lift it high?

Tonight, I die..
Tonight I die and my heart ---sleep---s warm
Buried in the heat of a bullet.
Blood flows from the depths of my ribs,
Painting its wounds on my shirt,
And a bird escapes from within my chest,
Arrows chases it, and "Qais" loses his "Layla" ,

A drunken moon over a gambling table lost a coin
The waves of regret overflow, breaking the shores,
Oh, my departing years,
Farewell.. as a lover bids his beloved goodbye.

Oh river.. You, barren river, get pregnant.
Taste the bitterness of tragedy in the death of a young palm tree,
And cry out, oh marshes of sorrow,
Do not ---sleep---, oh marshes of grief, a coffin arrives among the reeds,
And gently, it rests on the riverbank...
And sings him "M hammedawi" from your heart!

Oh rain,
Oh flood...
Take me to my beloved’s riverbanks,
Perhaps I may find his image,
Something left of him,
A foot-print- on the sand,
To which I can tell my tale,
And in his hands, I would lay my eyes,
Eyes accustomed to weeping...
How could I narrate my pain?

Like a minstrel’s lute, I was shattered by his blame,
And the crows danced
Upon my heavy corpse,

Oh birds of the night,
Take me to my people,
The dead.. they see.. they hear.. they turn,
Their hearts break, knowing who weeps for them,
A wish...
The dead always wish before the end,
I wish...
For winter.. and my beloved s embrace,
And a sword to have slain me before this night.
Tonight, I die.. tonight is the last night.

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