A'adel Kassem
Once,
at a winter night, I was raving out of fever, seeing a crowd of ordinary
people, heavily armed by their swords and thick beards, cutting the way of
passers-by in the city alleys, breaking through into clay houses emptied of
their inhabitants. I was running, despite my old age, at remote huts, fearful
of their valor. I recalled that I didn't take my sons and wife with me. When I
decided to go back, I saw a very old seed astonishly laughing at my naivety.
This, because there were no door nor windows, but columns of nudes, above their
heads colored cranes wavering, where inscribers with white robes, azure skies
and charming music, maybe The Requiem Mass*, and a clamour similar to the voice
of mob, mixed with artillery echoes،
while I've lost the way amidst fever and
horror.
* Translated from Arabic by Fareed Ghanem.
A'adel Kassem (b. 1963)
A'adel Kassem is an Iraqi poet and artist, and a co-founder 'Tajdid' literary group. He was born in Baghda in 1963. He has published several poetiry collections: 'Condensed Light's' , '1980's', 'Poems of Waiting' and 'Cloudy Spaces'. His name appeared in most iraqi important literary magazine.
