Saadi Yousef

Translated from Arabic by: Levi Thompson

Hey, ho Bob Marley

O Bob Marley

How do we stop that train?

Stop the train?

How do we?

You don’t know that calm woman at the piano,

Sure she’s black,

But hey man, she’s not the nice one you dreamt of, Nina Simone.

O Nina Simone!

This calm woman at the piano,

She wasn’t around during your time.

(That is Condoleezza Rice)

As for the keys, I mean the ones you might think are piano keys,

Well, they are the gates to the kingdom of Hell.

Hey, ho Bob Marley

O Bob Marley

Hey my friend

Hey long-time friend

Hey fried who’s got songs about a continent of dreams,

Love,

And the prime of life,

You won’t see that lady with your own two eyes.

You won’t see how her keys come with horrifying angels,

Or how she opens the gates of her dreams to hellhounds.

You won’t witness the storm fold up the skies of Baghdad like me.

O Bob Marley.

London 11/18/2004

Published in Transference Vol.1, no.1

Summer 2013

Western Michigan University