A Taste of Arabic Poetry

I am one of those who believe some things can not be translated from one language to another.They are just not transcultural. My bi-lingual friends and I always find amusement in literally translating expressions and jokes between languages. Things like "no extra upon you" and " The envalops are Cairo" or my personal favourite "My Mothers vice presedent" all of which make absalotely no sence unless you understand arabic and are familiar with the Gulf culture.

Leaving all that aside every now and then ,within my mind, I try and translate some peices of Arabic Poetry. Sometimes this only goes as far as one line other times it is a whole poem. This is one of my attempts to do that what ended up being type on my computer.

I really love this one so I hope that it is not ruined by my translation. It is written by Nizar Qabbani and was preformed by AbdulHalem Hafez as a song. It is called "Qariaat AlFinjan" or The fortune Teller and it goes like this:

The Fortune Teller:
She sat down with fear in her eyes..
Staring at my flipped cup..
She said ..
My son ... don’t be sad ..
Love is what is written for you..
My son...
He has sacrificed his soul..
The one who died on the religion of his love!
Your cup is a terrifying life
and your life is journeys and wars ..
You’re going to love a lot my son..
You’re going to die a lot my son ...
You’re going to fall in love with all the ladies on earth ..
And you’re going to return like a defeated king..
...
In your life my son there is a lady ...
Her eyes are wonders of the worshipped one..
Her mouth is drawn like the end of a vine branch ..
Her laugh is melodies and roses ...
And the wild gipsy hair is traveling throughout the life ..
She might become a lady my son ...
That the heart fall in love with ..
She is the life
But your sky is raining ..
And your way is blocked .. it’s blocked ..
Since the love of your heart .... my son
Is sleeping in well guarded castle ..
And the castle is huge my son ..
And dogs are guarding it along with the guards
And the princess of your heart is sleeping..
The one who enters her room ..
The one who asks for her hand ..
The one who gets close to the fence of her garden ....is lost ..
The one who tries to undo her hair ..
My son ..
Is lost ... is lost ..
...
I’ve read the future and stars so many times ..
But I have never read a cup the looked like your cup...
I’ve never seen my son ...
Any miseries that looked like yours
Your destiny ... is to walk forever ..
In love ... on the edge of sword ..
And to stay lonely like the shells on the beach..
And to stay sad like the falling leaves ...
Your destiny is to keep going forever ..
In the sea of love with no boats ...
And love millions of times ...
And to return like a removed King !