KNOT Magazine
Fall Issue 2022
Youssef Rzouga, Translated from Arabic to English by Imene Bennani
We Will Surely Dance
Tomorrow
After a year of dreaming
Or after a while
We will dance under the rain
Or above it
We will dance
So, wait for me
Until we meet
Keep silent
And wait for me
I won’t be late, no I won’t
Unless it were to stay longer
With a woman
Who is exactly you
And am back from you at last
Shall we dance now?
We will surely dance she said
And till we meet
Keep waiting for me there
For I have a date with you now
And I might linger in you
Wait for me here
For I am back
From you
To you
So let’s dance
And together soar
High
Far away
We Have Words
“I long for you and that is the problem”
Don’t worry
We have dreaming
And the words
The smiles that cross the sea
And the kisses
All this longing
To stay together
And to stay together
We had to have a leaving
Like this
So that we suffer
A little
And write poetry
The size of our longing
“سنرقص حتما”
غدا
بعد عام من الحلم
أو بعد حين
سنرقص تحت المطر
أو فوق المطر
سنرقص
فانتظري
و إلى أن يحين اللقاء
الزمي الصمت
و انتظريني
فلن أتأخر
لن أتأخر
لن أتأخر
إلا لأبقى كثيرا
مع امرأة
هي أنت تماما
و قد عدت منك، أخيرا
ألا نرقص الآن
حتما سنفعل، قالت
و حتى يحين اللقاء
انتظرني كثيرا، هناك
فلي موعد معك الآن
قد أتأخر فيك
انتظرني هنا
فأنا منك
عائدة، وإليك
لنرقص إذن
و لنحلّق معا
عاليا و بعيدا
"أحنّ إليك وتلك هي المشكلة "
لا تخافي
لنا الحلم والكلمات
لنا البسمات التي تعبر البحر والقبلات
لنا كل هذا الحنين
لنبقى معا
ولنبقى معا
كان لا بدّ من مثل هذا الرحيل
لنشقى قليلا
و نكتب شعرا
بحجم الحنين.
Absence
In the evening
She practices yoga
Lingers in absence
……………….
While there
In front of her and behind
I have but leaving
To the heights of silence
Where her sky resides
“غياب”
هي في المساء
تمارس اليوغا
و تمعن في الغياب
...................
وليس لي
و أنا هناك
أمامها
ووراءها
إلا الرحيل
إلى أعالي الصمت
حيث سماؤها
Imene Bennani is a Tunisian scholar who graduated from the Faculty of Arts of Sousse (Tunisia) and at present works as assistant at the University of Kairouan. She is currently preparing her PhD on contemporary Arab American Poetry. Her fields of interest include (Arab) American Literature, literary theory, culture studies, and literary translation.
Tunisian poet, Youssef Rzouga was born on March 21, 1957 in Ksour Essef, Tunisia and he is considered as one of the most representative figures of the contemporary Tunisian poetry. National and Arab critics seem to be unanimous about the fact that he is a unique and original poetic voice.
In addition to his ten poetic books- among which we can cite : The program of the Rose, The Wolf in the Word, The Butterfly and the Dynamite, and Yogana- Rzouga wrote a novel The Archipelago (Tunis 1986) and a tale for children : And the Orange Flied Away.
In 2003, the first volume of his Collected Poetic Works was published and it has met with great critical acclaim and confirmed his position as the most prolific and brilliant poet in North Africa.
Youssef Rzouga has won many awards and a number of his poems were translated into many languages such as French, English, Spanish, Russian, etc. The Chekhov's Nail was published by Moment Digibooks Ltd., 2014 and Farewell to the Innocence of the World is forthcoming from AlAin Press (Egypt).