Centre for Romanian Studies

“Adonis” Contemporary Arabic language poet

Ali Ahmad Said Esbe , aka “Adonis”, Poet Arab, Siria (n. 1930)
Un om sfârsit (They say I’m done for)

Mi-au spus că sunt sfârşit,
că nici o umbră n-a mai rămas din harul meu,
nici focul, nici flacăra vieţii.
Trec prin grădina de trandafiri şi ce le pasă lor
dacă râd sau plâng?
În sclipirea ochilor mei,
în sufletul meu, m-a cuprins doliul,
care mă uită şi mă face uitat.
Iubesc, iubesc frumosul:
îi închin toate rătăcirile mele,
cele care m-au dus în ispită,
sau care le-am trăit singur.
Eşti nesăţios –
oare când voi putea spune
“sângele mi-a potolit setea”?
Râvnesc la clipa în care
voi cântari întreaga mea viaţă.
Mi-e dor de un suflet profund şi deschis,
care îl voi aprinde în calea mea
să-şi facă sălaş în vinele mele,
pe undeva, între fiinţă şi nefiinţă.
Ţi-e sete din nou –

(Rendered in Romanian by Constantin ROMAN, London,
© 2013 Copyright Constantin ROMAN)

Short Biography:
Famous in the Arab world but much less well-known in the west, Adonis, the Syrian poet’s nom du plume, has once again been bandied about the news, ever since it was rumoured that he might get the Nobel Prize for Literature, for which has been cited as a good bet.
In Islamic countries, Adonis is a controversial figure due to his high-profile secularism, and perhaps even more so because of his revolutionary, if wayward, use of the Arabic language in his poems. He has valiantly tried to liberate Arabic verse from its traditional subject matters and straight-jacket form: this was anathema which had attracted him great criticism of his work in the Arabic speaking world. As Adonis himself says ironically: “The textbooks in Syria all say that I have ruined poetry.”

Ali Ahmad Said Esbe, aka “Adonis” was born in 1930, in Qassabin, Syria, where he resided until the 1980s. Thereafter he took up residence in Paris, where he lives now.