Al-Khansā
We were like two roots in soil suspended blessings that would grow
on trees.
Even when told their veins do grow and dates aplenty, vacant is our fruit.
Spoiled was a root with the jealousy of time what is it that keeps time from
deteriorating?
Al-Khansā (d. 646) was born in pre-Islamic Arabia. She wrote elegaic poems, as was customary for women writers of the period. She later converted to Islam.
Adel Osta Dadan is an MFA candidate in translation studies and an international resident at Vermont College of Fine Arts. His poetry has been published in Caesura (Tel Aviv University). His upbringing in Israel and Houston, Texas has greatly affected his writing, which examines a great contrast in identities.