The Blood of Adonis: Selected Poems of Adonis (Ali Hamed Said)

This is the first poetry from 'the list' that I've tried to tackle. I'm not usually very good with poetry. I asked Dan for advice and he told me I was over-thinking it, that I should just relax and try to enjoy. So I did.

Adonis is the pen name of a Syrian poet with political leanings. This collection contains several, mostly short, poems translated from Arabic. I don't know how well the language of the original was translated, but the imagery is powerful. Most of the poems deal with political themes, dwelling on the fate of his country, the inevitability of time, changes in nature.

A snippet I found evocative, from the only love poem, A Mirror for Khalida:

We sleep beneath a cloth
woven from the harvests
of the night.
O night of dust....
Cymbals and alleluias
chorus in our blood.