Dreams that die by Abdellatif Laabi

Dreams Come To Die Upon The Page

One by one
dreams come to die upon the page
They passed the word on
they come from everywhere
to die upon the page
like elephants in their graveyard
I witness their convulsions
am unable to offer them a cup of water
I look at them for the first time
for the last time
before wrapping them in the shroud of my words
and setting them on the tiny craft
which was once their cradle
The current carries them away
and brings them back to me quickly
as if the open sea were not out there
but here upon the page

Abdellatif Laabi

Tree of Diana by Alejandra Pizarnik

Excerpt from of Tree of Diana
Translated by Joseph Mulligan & Patricia Rossi

Octavio Paz
Paris, April of 1962


1

I’ve taken the plunge from me to dawn.
I’ve left my body along with the light
& I’ve sung the sadness of what’s born.


2

These are the versions she puts on the table:
a hole, a wall that shakes...


3

only the thirst
the silence
no encounter

beware of me my love
beware of the silent one in the desert
of the traveler with a decanted canteen
& of her shadow’s shadow


4

SO THEN:
Who would stop diving down in search of the tribute
to the little forgotten one. Pay the cold will. The wind will pay.
Pay the rain will. The thunder will pay.


5

for a minute of fleeting life
one of a kind wide-eyed
for a minute to see
little flowers in the brain
dance like words in a mute’s mouth


6

(a drawing by Wols)

she undresses in the paradise
of her memory
she’s unaware of her visions’
fierce fate
she’s scared of not knowing how to name
what does not exist


7

Leaps with her shirt in flames
from star to star,
shadow after shadow.
Dies a distant death
does she who loves the wind.