Arabic by Naomi Shihab Nye
To live between languages can be both blessing and burden, as Palestinian-American poet Naomi Shihab Nye attests. In the anthology The Poetry of Arab Women (edited by Nathalie Handal), Nye writes: “I admit my / shame. To live on the brink of Arabic, tugging / its rich threads without understanding / how to weave the rug… I have no gift.” Fast forward 36 pages, and we can glimpse a subtle shifting of these tides, with Nye’s beautiful rendition of the Arabic poem “Departure” by Mai Sayigh. Nye’s co-translation flies in the face of her former claims (“I have no gift”) and, perhaps, displaces a little of the shame.
—Kareem James Abu-Zeid
Naomi Shihab Nye. "Arabic," from The Poetry of Arab Women: A Contemporary Anthology. Edited by Nathalie Handal. New York: Interlink Books, 2001.