Serendipitet
Mourid Barghouti

The Pillow

The pillow said:
at the end of the long day
only I know
the confident's man confusion,
the nun's desire,
the slight quiver in the tyrant's eyelash,
the preacher's obscenity,
the soul's longing
for a warm body where flying sparks
become a glowing coal.
Only I know
the grandeur of unnoticed little things;
only I know the looser's dignity,
the winner's loneliness
and the stupid coldness one feels
when a wish has been granted.

Translated by Radwa Ashour
Midnight and Other Poems