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Published:

Malak Mattar, Untitled (detail), 2024, charcoal on paper

Riddle No. 2: Storm at Sea

At times, when men do not expect it,
I go beneath the press of the waves
to seek the earth, the ocean floor.
The sea is stirred up, the foam tossed, and
the whales’-flood roars and rages loudly,
while surges beat against the coast lines,
fiercely casting stones and sand,
sea-weed and water, on the high slopes,
when, struggling, and hidden under the force
of the waves, I shake the earth, the vast
sea-bottom. Until the One Who is
my Leader on every journey allows me,
I cannot escape the covering waters.
Wise One, say Who draws me from
the embraces of the sea-flood, when once
again the surges grow still, the billows
peaceful, which before had covered me.

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