Dan Kollu ma Jezstix (All this does not exist)

[Scroll down for Poem]

Note

Thanks for the comments on my last blog, and it's true, my entries have become very sporadic. I have limited myself mostly to poetry over these last few months, because for me it is the easiest and most personal forms of literary expression. So at the risk of being an old bore, I shall be publishing mostly poems on my blog. I also write mostly in Maltese (but do offer translations), because that is MY language, and MY identity. The translations can only approximate what I mean, just as the poem itself can only approximate what I feel.

My poetry is egocentric; I admit that readily. It is about me;what I think and what I feel. I do not write to find sympathy or pity, nor to preach or judge. I write to share my experiences with others, and learn from others just as I hope others learn from me. If we can only learn to sit down and listen and understand, maybe our lives will be slightly better than they are today.

Dan kollu ma jezistix

(English translation below)

Dan kollu ma jezistix

Dal-kliem

Dil-karta

Bhal daqqa ta harta:

L-id taraha

Izda d-daqqa ma tarahiex

Tara biss il-hmura

Fuq wiccek bla sura

Izda d-daqqa ma tarahiex

U thoss il-weggha

Li l-kliem ma jfissirx

Ghax hlief il-weggha

Dan kollu ma jezistix.

Æ

All this does not exist

All this does not exist
These words
This paper
Like a slap in the face:
You see the hand
But not the strike
You see only the redness
On your battered face
But not the strike.

And you feel the pain
Which words can't explain
Because apart from the pain
All this does not exist.

Æ