Don't Cry For Me Mother

posted on: May 6, 2026

Luke McMahan has been a student of Arabic for two and a half years; and all throughout this time he has been told how wonderful Arabic poetry is. But because not many translations exist online of anything but the most famous poems, he had to wait to progress in his language ability to begin to interact with these works. In this article, he can confidently translate some of these poems; and hopes he can give non-Arabic speakers a chance to read them as well. Though not fluent or a professional translator; he hopes to maintain as much of their lyricism, ambiguity, and beautiful imagery as possible. Presented here is “Don’t Cry For Me Mother,” a poem by Samih Al-Qasim.

Don’t Cry For Me Mother

لا تبكي علي يا أمي

Samih Al-Qasim

سميح القاسم

Traversing my sleep on the walkways of exile…

…عابر نومي على أرصفة الغربة

Traversing

عابر

The weakening bloodshed of grief,

،ونزيف الحزن

From my heart,

،من قلبي

On thousands and thousands of memories

على آلاف آلاف التذاكر

And my cries in the droplets which I ignore

وبكائي في القطارات التي أجهل فيها

The language of the neighbor the traveler

لغة الجار المسافر

And my standing naked,

ووقوفي عاريا،

In the role of ration cards

في دور كرتات الاعاشه

And my extinguishing in the sanctuaries’ ballads

وانطفائي في مواويل المهاجر

And my craving in the cells for cigarettes’ stub

واشتهائي في الزنازين لأعقاب السجائر

And my seizing the news he carried for the prison,

،واختطافي نبا يحمله للسجن

Smoker of gambling houses

حشّاش مقامر

Traversing the crawling of my camp every year

عابر زحف خيامي كل عام

From in front of the arch in an adventurer’s abstaining

من أمام القوس في كف مغامر

Traversing my wound on which its imprint struck

عابر جرحي الذي صكّت عليه ختمها

All police stations!

!كل المخافر

Traversing my death oh mother,

،عابر موتي يا أمي

So don’t cry exaltedly!

!فلا تبكي عليّا

My face is still on your door worshiping a sun

لم يزل وجهي على بابك عبّادة شمس

And on your forearm, an eternal tattoo

وعلى زندك، وشما أبديّا

So be safe… and wait for me

.فأسلمي… وانتظاريني

Traversing my death… traversing!!

!!عابر موتي… عابر