Rajt raġel miexi b’ħmara f’triq f’Ramalla.
Rajt mara xxejjer ’l ommha fuq bankina
u smajt dit-tifla ċkejkna tkanta tgħajjat.
It-toroq kollha nies u trab u friefet,
karozzi kull kulur isuqu jiġru
u jpaqpqu huma w jgħaddu bla paċenzja.
Rajt xemx żagħżugħa tixgħel il-belt kollha.
Rajt omm twassal lil bintha lejn l-iskola.
Rajt tifel jidħaq bija hekk kif rani.
Rajt belt għaddejja tiġri bħal miġnuna,
daqsxejn ta’ qamar iħeġġiġna norqdu.
Qrajt storja ġdida li ma kontx qrajt qabel.
Ramallah
I saw a man walking a donkey in a street in Ramallah.
I saw a woman on a pavement waving at her mother.
And I heard a little girl singing aloud.
The streets were full of people, dust, and butterflies,
cars speeding in all colors,
honking impatiently as they streamed by.
I saw a young sun setting the city alight.
I saw a mother taking her daughter to school.
I saw a boy laughing as he saw me.
I saw a city dash by like a madwoman;
a waning moon urging us to sleep.
I read a new story which I hadn’t read before.
From Around Two and a Half Hours Away from Heaven (2019). Published by Klabb Kotba Maltin, Santa Venera, Malta.
Translated into English from the Maltese by Ruth Ward
Cover art: “Pebbles” by Josh Stein
Immanuel Mifsud
Immanuel Mifsud is a five-time national literary award winner and a European Union Prize for Literature recipient. Novelist, poet, playwright, and translator, Mifsud is a founding member and current president of PEN Malta. He lectures in literary theory and Maltese literature at the University of Malta. His research focuses on the body and sexuality in literature, as well as the field of psychogeography.
