I've moved! This page should automatically redirect in 5 seconds, but if it doesn't, then click here.

1.31.2011

a good start to the week. a really good start, actually.

NOT MY PHOTO!!!


When you find a man
Who transforms
Every part of you
Into poetry,
Who makes each one of your hairs
Into a poem,
When you find a man,
Capable,
As I am
OF bathing and adorning you
With poetry,
I will beg you
To follow him without hesitation,
It is not important
That you belong to me or him
But that you belong to poetry.  


When You Find a Man
by Nizar Qabbani 


translation by Bassam K. Frangieh
and Clementina R. Brown









(this morning i awoke to this in my inbox. and i thought (1) georgette, you are a goddess, because indeed it was georgette who sent it to me and (2) can you imagine how sexy the poem must be in the original arabic? {it's always better in the original tongue}). 


{oh yes, and just so you know. today i'm up much too early, sneaking in a few minutes for myself before the day begins in ernest. i'm dancing around to david gray's  lately and offering up a silent prayer of thanks that for the time being i make more than enough poetry for myself. (and that i still get to look forward to meeting the man who will transform that poetry, because holly hell there is just so much to look forward to in this life.).}

23 comments:

ju said...

Meg - this poem is wonderful, so thank you so much for sharing it with all of us! you are right, there areso many things waiting for us in life ... and i can't wait for them to happen!! have a wonderful start into this week !! ju

M. Eileen said...

mornings to myself are my favorite mornings of all. Beautiful poem! I hope you have a beautiful week!

Mackenzie said...

Holy crap. What an amazing thing to strive for. I cannot wait for that man. Cannot wait. Oh, and I totally agree. I bet the original arabic is just beyond sexy. And oh my, you are so right. I have so many fun things to look forward to that I can barely contain myself, I have to submit to the happy dance.

Hope you had a lovely weekend and have a great week, Meg :)
xo

iheartkiwi said...

Here's to poetry on a Monday morning :)

What a great way to start the week.

B. said...

thanks for that poem and the song recommendation. you are making my monday morning. and after another sleepless night that's pretty wonderful!

Brittany said...

that was my first impression too--what a sexy poem! you have started your week right. happy dancing!

...like a rolling stone. said...

ah! what a rad start to a monday. this day of the week always needs some extra help, so this poem was just the trick. thanks for sharing meg, your enthusiasm is infectious!

Faye said...

such a nice poem. this made my monday better :)

Jenni Austria Germany said...

indeed everything is better in the original tongue. i have far too much to do but as i was skimming through google reader i decided i'd allow myself 1 or 2 blogs to "stop by"...yours was, of course, one of them.

Dee Paulino said...

mornings to oneself are the best. I love the poem.

Georgette said...

Oh my goodness Meg!

What a sweet surprise!
(I am humbled to have my name spoken here!)

I am so happy you loved it!

I felt breathless from the sheer beauty of reading it for the first time.

I have faith that such men do exist, one for the each of us, undiscovered, until ...
Which reminds me of the Sexton line, " I say Live, Live because of the sun, the dream, the excitable gift."

ps. I agree about how irresistibly sexy it would sound in its Arabic tongue.

pps. You are a goddess my dear!

xo
Georgette

Mary Grace said...

My Monday just got better. The poem gave me the slightest goosebumps.

Shannon said...

Incredible Meg... incredible....

christine said...

Good heavens, that is quite the quote. It stirs up all sorts of good things.

Thanks for sharing.

P.S. How did you like the Power of Vulnerability talk from TED?

Sam | ashore said...

Meg, this poem is so intimate and beautiful! thank you for sharing it.

And I, too, enjoy stealing those early morning minutes for myself!

Chelsea said...

Love that poem!

Claire Kiefer said...

My goodness this was so amazing to read. I love that perspective--that you GET to look forward to meeting that man--that the waiting is a privilege--because sometimes, at 29, I forget this. And I am consumed by not having found my poetry man. Or thinking I have found him so many times and having been so, so wrong. So thank you.

Jay said...

such beautiful words! i can only imagine havig a handsome devil read this to me in his husky and so darn sexy voice... pfeww!

The Rookie said...

This is so good it is painful.

Jo said...

Wow...this poem melts me!

Anonymous said...

thanks for this!

Jane said...

hahaha I love you!!

Kelly said...

Love this post : ) thank you for it.