1. A clock rang for the tenth time, it rang ten o’clock, it rang ten. *** Across from the church tower a star flickered and disappeared and a nightingale vanished in the pines fading into a green mirage of night. Come to my house, girl. My house is my shrine. My house is a shrine. The church shut its doors and the candles were put out and the kerchiefs were stained with wine. On the dark path the water was silent, and the dry leaves and the deep shadows. *** On the dark path the sparrows didn’t sing and in the garden the whispering brook didn’t sing. *** God of drowned alphabets, where, where is the shiver of drowsy shadows? Her hand is in mine and in my chest a garden. 3. distant land, where the sky weeps, where the women weep, where people only read the newspaper. *** Country where I no longer live, lonely country, sand, date palms, and brook. O wound and spike of wheat! O anguish of long nights! *** Country where I no longer live, my outcast country, from you I only gained a traveler’s sails, a banner ripped by daggers and fugitive stars. *** Algiers, 16/8/1965 ________________ Translated by Khaled Mattawa________________ Translated by Khaled Mattawa