He was a builder.
He filled in every empty space with bricks
and decorated it with windows.
He put a staircase in every house
he built that led to the roof,
and from there to the sky.
Whenever he finished a building,
people came in and filled the space.
He often walked past his houses,
to hear the laughter and leave contented.
They call him a maker of houses,
but he calls himself
a maker of lives,
in rooms with staircases that led to
the sky.
One evening,
he climbed to the mountains and did not see any
more space.
His houses were whispering one to the other,
about an epidemic people had never heard of yet.
He returned home, sad and did not speak.
His wife said
he was delirious,
talked about buildings that grew quicker than their
inhabitants,
and ordered him to pray prostrated
at the feet of the doors and windows.
Sometime later,
The neighbors heard wailing.
and rushed in their sleeping gowns to where his
house was.
In the morning they erected a big tomb
and decorated it with windows.
Translation: Somaya Yehia Ramadan
كان بَنّاءُ بيوتٍ
يملأُ الفراغَ حجارةً
. ويزينها بالنوافذ
يُقيمُ فى كل بيت سُلّماً
يؤدى إلى السطحِ
. وبالتالي إلى السماء
وحين ينتهى البناء
يأتى بشرٌ يملأون الفراغ
وغالباً ما كان يمرُ أمام بيوته
. يتسمّعُ الضحكات ويعبر راضياً
يسمونه صانع بيوت
ويسمى نفسه
خالق حيوات فى غرف لها سلالم
. تؤدى إلى السماء
وذات مساء
صعد إلى الجبال فلم يشاهد فراغاً
كانت بيوته تهمس فيما بينها
عن وباء لم يسمع به الناس بعد
. فعاد إلى بيته حزيناً ولم يتكلم
. قالت زوجته
إنه كان يهذي
ويحكى
عن بنايات تكْبُرُ أسرع من أصحابها
. ثم تأمره أن يصلى راكعاً للأبواب والنوافذ
وفيما بعد
سمع الجيران عويلاً
فهُرِعوا فى سراويل النوم إلى بيته
وفى الصباح شيدوا مقبرة كبيرة
. وزينوها بالنوافذ