Silence,* by Mahmood Jamal

Mixed-Media Art ©Najlaa al Ramahi 

Poem by Mahmood Jamal

Let my silence speak out

through these words.

Let it seep through these sounds

imperceptibly

as the air we breathe

permeates our blood.

Let the silence

grow as the words grow denser

thickets, bushes, thorny branches

standing in a windless evening;

silent

brooding darkly of day

passing shadow-like

into the dark.

The silence of deep deserted

eyes

and pitch black

tears.

The silence of moonlight

over the shanty towns.

The silence

inside a gun’s mouth

when the bullet has flown.

The silence

of a child’s twisted belly

and his old eyes.

Let my silence speak

as the eloquent silence

Of lovers;

the silence of clouds passing

and black evening hills;

the silence of dew damply

falling over fresh graves.

So the silence

can grow as the noise grows

about us of robots

and demagogic lights

that shriek out on the desolate highways

their neon screams.

So that the dark

can be discovered

So that the silenced

Are not forgotten

Let my silence be loud.

 

*From Sugar Coated Pill- Selected Poems, Wordpower Books

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *Material should not be published in another periodical before at least one year has elapsed since publication in Whispering Dialogue. *أن لا يكون النص قد تم نشره في أي صحيفة أو موقع أليكتروني على الأقل (لمدة سنة) من تاريخ النشر. *All content © 2021 Whispering Dialogue or respective authors and publishers, and may not be used elsewhere without written permission. جميع الحقوق محفوظة للناشر الرسمي لدورية (هَمْس الحِوار) Whispering Dialogue ولا يجوز إعادة النشر في أيّة دورية أخرى دون أخذ الإذن من الناشر مع الشكر الجزيل

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