[Bluestar]

The Jackals' Weddings

O, Mudhaffar al-Nawab,
my life-long comrade
What are we to do about the jackals' wedding?

You remember the old days
In the cool of the evening
under a bamboo roof
propped on soft cushions stuffed with fine wool
we'd sip tea (a tea I've never since tasted)
among friends...
Night falls as softly as our words
under the darkening crowns of the date palms
while smoke curls from the hearth, such fragrance
as if the universe had just begun

Then a cackling explodes
from the long grass and date palms -
the jackals' wedding!

O, Mudhaffar al-Nawab -
today isn't yesterday
(truth is as evanescent as the dream of a child) -
truth is, this time we're at their wedding reception
yes, the jackals' wedding
you've read their invitation:

For tho' we trudge past Dahna empty-handed
We depart Dareen our purses line with gold
'While the town folk attend to their affairs
Now, Zuraik fleece them, quick as a fox!'

O, Mudhaffar al-Nawab,
let's make a deal:

I'll go in your place
(Damascus is too far away from that secret hotel...)
I'll spit on their lists,
I'll declare that we are the people of Iraq -
we are the ancestral trees of this land,
proud beneath our modest roof of bamboo.

By Saadi Youssef

The Jackels Wedding refers to the collaborators in the occupation of Iraq

Dahna, Dareen and Zureik are references to pre quranic texts