AUTUMN 06: Mansur Rajih
Added: August 2006 to Babel (archive)
Mansur Rajih was a vocal member of the Yemeni opposition party The National Democratic Front. In 1983, a few days after his marriage, he was arrested and imprisoned under the guise of a murder charge. The following year, following what Amnesty International described as "grossly unfair hearings", he was sentenced to death.
For fifteen years his wife Afrah worked tirelessly alongside organizations such as PEN International and Amnesty International campaigning for Mansur’s release. Finally, in 1998, Mansur Rajih was released and flown directly from prison to Stavanger City of Refuge.
Since that time he has written and published three volumes of poetry and his life (thus far) has been the subject of several short films.
Why Mansur Rajih's story is important to BABEL.
Two Poems: Yoga & A Moment of War
Listen to Mansur Rajih read "Yoga" in his native tongue Arabic
English translations of Mansur Rajih poems
يوجا
صمت هو الحل
قبالة هذه الفوضى
*
صمت عميق
صمت القلب والعقل معا
صمت الحياة بحق
حين تصمت أو يكبل صوتها عرض
من غلبة أو جهل
والفراغ يتمدد ليصبح سيد الموقف
زعيقٌ في زعيق
*
صمت يوغل عميقا في حريق
صمت وادي مترامي الأطراف
صمت القديم داخل كل واحد منا
في سمت الخلايا معرش
صمت الحركة التي لا ترى
ولا تسمع
*
هو الصمت
قبالة هذه الفوضى
لحظة حرب
رحى الحرب دائرة
والمخبرون
الحرب : المخبرون
*
وحل
هو الدرب الذي تختاره السلطة
قهر لغتها
سجن هو ما تريده للناس
لا بلاد
يغيب وجه الحب
وتغيب الصداقة
والعلاقات الحميمة
سواها لا يعد باق
على سطح الحياة ,
جلادون
حاكم فرد
طبل حرب ,
والأشجار تتواري في البعيد
*
جراجيف تخرج من أوكارها
هي ذي ....
تؤذن بأن تتوقف الحياة
وآلة الحرب تدور
Yoga
Silence
Against this anarchy
*
Deep silence,
Silence of both head and heart,
Silence of authentic life
When it is hushed or its sound
Is bound by conquest or ignorance
The emptiness expands to become
Situation’s Master:Roaring and Roaring
*
The silence of a flame
The silence of a broad valley
The silence of the old
Who reside in cells
The silence of movement that
Cannot be seen and cannot be heard
*
Only SilenceAgainst this anarchy
A Moment of War
.
The mill of war spins
and spies
The war is spies
*
The authorities choose the swampish road
Their language is force
They want to make a prison for the people
not a country
Love turns away:
Friendship turns away
as do all forms of compassion
Nothing remains
of life’s visage
but authority:
Executioner
Dictator
The drums of war
And the trees are fading in the distance
*
The Gragif abandon their dwellings
Here they are: Bellowing a prayer for life’s cessation
And the war machine spins.
© 2006 Mansur Rajih
© 2006 ICORN Webzine
note: Gragif are the cannibalistic creatures in Yemeni mythology.
Mansur Rajih (born 1958) was a vocal member of the Yemeni opposition party The National Democratic Front. In 1983, a few days after his marriage, he was arrested and imprisoned under the guise of a murder charge. The following year, following what Amnesty International described as "grossly unfair hearings", he was sentenced to death.
For fifteen years his wife Afrah worked tirelessly alongside organizations such as PEN International and Amnesty International campaigning for Mansur’s release. Finally, in 1998, Mansur Rajih was released and flown directly from prison to Stavanger City of Refuge.
Since that time he has written and published three volumes of poetry and his life (thus far) has been the subject of several short films.
Translations © 2006 Mansur Rajih and Ren Powell