{"id":2891,"date":"2010-01-14T14:31:25","date_gmt":"2010-01-14T19:31:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/?p=2891"},"modified":"2010-01-14T14:31:25","modified_gmt":"2010-01-14T19:31:25","slug":"three-by-dib","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/three-by-dib\/","title":{"rendered":"Three by Dib"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2892 lazyload\" title=\"Mohammed-Dib-D.Far-s-pdf\" data-src=\"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/Mohammed-Dib-D.Far-s-pdf.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"420\" height=\"313\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 420px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 420\/313;\" \/>Took the first volume of the Algerian writer Mohammed Dib&#8217;s\u00a0 <strong>Collected Works<\/strong> (which consists of the Collected Poems, edited and presented by Habib Tengour \u2014 as published in 2007 by Editions de la Diff\u00e9rence)\u00a0 from the shelves this morning, and began to read. Then stopped reading after the opening 3 poems \u2014 from the first volume, <strong>Ombre Gardienne<\/strong>, originally\u00a0 published in 1961. Couldn&#8217;t resist trying to translate them \u2014 as I have said elsewhere, translating is the closest reading we can give a poem. So here they are:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>from: <strong>Guardian Shadow<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Guardian Shadow, 1<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Close your doors<br \/>\nwomen, bitter sleep<br \/>\nwill fill your nerves,<br \/>\nwater and sand wore<br \/>\naway the trace of your step,<br \/>\nnothing belongs to you.<\/p>\n<p>Far away the few<br \/>\nglimmerings of stars,<br \/>\nopaque, the earth around<br \/>\nthe black dwellings<br \/>\nshelter your respite.<\/p>\n<p>Close your doors<br \/>\nI am the guardian:<br \/>\nnothing belongs to you.<\/p>\n<p><em>Guardian Shadow, 2<\/em><\/p>\n<p>But I\u2019ll barely sing<br \/>\nso that your pain not<br \/>\nimpinge on your sleep;<br \/>\nPeace to you, mothers, wives,<br \/>\nthe blood-drinking tyrant<br \/>\nwill be dust in your<br \/>\nwinnowing baskets.<\/p>\n<p>I walk on the mountain<br \/>\nwhere approaching spring<br \/>\nputs scented herbs:<\/p>\n<p>All of you who listen to me,<br \/>\nwhen dawn softens, I\u2019ll<br \/>\ncome and wash your thresholds.<\/p>\n<p>And my songs will stifle<br \/>\ntime\u2019s ululations.<\/p>\n<p><em>Guardian Shadow, 3<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Do not ask<br \/>\nif the wind trailing<br \/>\nalong the peaks<br \/>\nfans a hearth;<\/p>\n<p>if it is a bonfire<br \/>\nif it is a poor man\u2019s fire<br \/>\nor a sentinel\u2019s signal.<\/p>\n<p>Fabulous women who<br \/>\nclose your doors, still<br \/>\nstill soaked in night, dream on.<\/p>\n<p>I walk, I walk:<br \/>\nthe words I carry<br \/>\non my tongue make<br \/>\na strange report.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Took the first volume of the Algerian writer Mohammed Dib&#8217;s\u00a0 Collected Works (which consists of the Collected Poems, edited and presented by Habib Tengour \u2014 as published in 2007 by Editions de la Diff\u00e9rence)\u00a0&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66,91,103],"tags":[364,536],"class_list":["post-2891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-maghrebi-literature","category-poetry","category-translation","tag-guardian-shadow","tag-mohammed-dib"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2891"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2891\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6029,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2891\/revisions\/6029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}