AUTUMN 06: Mansur Rajih

Mansur Rajih was a vocal member of the Yemeni opposition party The National Democratic Front. In 1983, a few days after his marriage, he was arrested and imprisoned under the guise of a murder charge. The following year, following what Amnesty International described as "grossly unfair hearings", he was sentenced to death.

For fifteen years his wife Afrah worked tirelessly alongside organizations such as PEN International and Amnesty International campaigning for Mansur’s release. Finally, in 1998, Mansur Rajih was released and flown directly from prison to Stavanger City of Refuge.

Since that time he has written and published three volumes of poetry and his life (thus far) has been the subject of several short films.

Two Poems: Yoga & A Moment Of War

يوجا

صمت هو الحل

قبالة هذه الفوضى

*

صمت عميق

صمت القلب والعقل معا

صمت الحياة بحق

حين تصمت أو يكبل صوتها عرض

من غلبة أو جهل

والفراغ يتمدد ليصبح سيد الموقف

زعيقٌ في زعيق

*

صمت يوغل عميقا في حريق

صمت وادي مترامي الأطراف

صمت القديم داخل كل واحد منا

في سمت الخلايا معرش

صمت الحركة التي لا ترى

ولا تسمع

*

هو الصمت

قبالة هذه الفوضى

لحظة حرب

رحى الحرب دائرة

والمخبرون

الحرب : المخبرون

*

وحل

هو الدرب الذي تختاره السلطة

قهر لغتها

سجن هو ما تريده للناس

لا بلاد

يغيب وجه الحب

وتغيب الصداقة

والعلاقات الحميمة

سواها لا يعد باق

على سطح الحياة ,

جلادون

حاكم فرد

طبل حرب ,

والأشجار تتواري في البعيد

*

جراجيف تخرج من أوكارها

هي ذي ....

تؤذن بأن تتوقف الحياة

وآلة الحرب تدور

Yoga

Silence

Against this anarchy

*

Deep silence,

Silence of both head and heart,

Silence of authentic life

When it is hushed or its sound

Is bound by conquest or ignorance

The emptiness expands to become

Situation’s Master:Roaring and Roaring

*

The silence of a flame

The silence of a broad valley

The silence of the old

Who reside in cells

The silence of movement that

Cannot be seen and cannot be heard

*

Only SilenceAgainst this anarchy

A Moment Of War

.

The mill of war spins

and spies

The war is spies

*

The authorities choose the swampish road

Their language is force

They want to make a prison for the people

not a country

Love turns away:

Friendship turns away

as do all forms of compassion

Nothing remains

of life’s visage

but authority:

Executioner

Dictator

The drums of war

And the trees are fading in the distance

*

The Gragif abandon their dwellings

Here they are: Bellowing a prayer for life’s cessation

And the war machine spins.

 

© 2006 Mansur Rajih
© 2006 ICORN Webzine

note: Gragif are the cannibalistic creatures in Yemeni mythology.