Tales of a Severed Head Quotes

“Deuxième conte

XIV

La mer est à nous
la mer est à boire
la mer tout entière se loge
dans le creux de la main.
Si tu te remplissais
te barbouillais d'azur ?
Si ton pied foulait la mer ?
Si ta main apprenait les caresses océaniques ?
Si les vagues sur ton corps ?
Si les algues mêlées à ton désir ?
Si le sel sur tes blessures ?
Si la fureur de l'océan dans ton sang ?
Si soudain tu renaissais ?
Si soudain le rire ?
Soudain l'été ?
Soudain les plages de ton enfance et
les chansons ?
Si soudain tu voyais des deux yeux ?
Si tu entendais des deux oreilles le cri de toutes les bouches ?
Et si soudain tu te levais ?
Et si tout aussi soudain tu te mettais
à dire
Non ?”
― Rachida Madani, Tales of a Severed Head

“Ah, how often she dreamed of nocturnal oceans
bringing the taste of blood and salt
back to our throats
dreamed
as if she knew all the words
to assemble
so that a door would open
a people arise

and the sea finally flood
into our heads’ lit coals
where there is so little space so that a woman
keeps shouting
a door keeps closing...”
― Rachida Madani, Tales of a Severed Head

“Each poem is a skiff
headed for the other shore.”
― Rachida Madani, Tales of a Severed Head

“She speaks of all nights
and all women
she speaks of the sea
of waves which carry everything away
as if everything could be carried away
of waves which begin the sea again
there where the sea stopped.
She goes through the city
she walks with death
hand in hand
and her hand does not tremble...”
― Rachida Madani, Tales of a Severed Head

“Give me your hand
I'll sing softly for you in the dark
and my voice a wave in the night
will carry to the other shore
the butterflies of your dream.”
― Rachida Madani, Tales of a Severed Head

“Fear, like death, is the end
of everything...”
― Rachida Madani, Tales of a Severed Head

“I will leave, all the better to return
to the city of glass.
You are the master
but what becomes of a master
when the slaves rebel?”
― Rachida Madani, Tales of a Severed Head

“There is no danger greater for the State than that of self-styled intellectuals. You would have been better off remaining illiterate.

- King Hassan II of Morocco, quoted in the Preface”
― Marilyn Hacker, Tales of a Severed Head