Shop Lamps at Djeema el Fma Aquare, Marrakesh, Morocco
The Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures offers many courses in Arabic that support our Arabic major and minor programs.
The following poems were submitted by members of our community participating in the NELC Poetry Project. We hope you will consider participating in the NELC Poetry Project!
Istanbul by Hekmet Dirbas (Written by NELC Arabic Instructor, Dr. Hekmet Dirbas)
Istanbul by Hekmet Dirbas
تُسَرِّحُ اسطنبولُ الصبيّةُ شَعرها
على مرآةِ اسطنبولَ العجوز.
تطير في هذي القصيدةِ خِصْلةٌ
تغازلُ الإيقاع تحرّكهُ.
في برزخِ العشقِ كأني
أو في برزخِ الموت أنام.
أنسى زمانًا كان لي
ينساني زمانٌ ليس لي.
أصحو فأسالُ:
أين الدربَ يا حُرَّاسَ مدائنِ الفضّة؟
A young Istanbul styles her hair
In the mirror of her older self.
A strand of hair flies into this poem,
Caresses the rhythm, rouses it.
As if I am in the limbo of love
Or asleep in the passage of death.
I forget a time that was mine,
And a time not mine forgets me.
I wake up asking:
“Guardians of silver cities!
Where is the path?”
Hekmet Dirbas, an OSU Arabic Instructor, chose this particular poem from his own collection because he enjoys the artistic imagery, and it resonates with his personal life experiences.