That Smile, That Heart by Maya Abu Al-Hayyat

31 Days of Poems: Day Five (plus a bonus poem because it's a special one and I just couldn't help myself)

For the month of August I’ll be participating in The Sealey Challenge and attempting to read a book of poetry every day (or at least a poem or two), and every day I’ll be sharing a poem with you. The 5th of August’s poem is my first translated offering: ‘That Smile, That Heart by Palestinian poet, Maya Abu Al-Hayyat, taken from her 2022 collection, You Can Be the Last Leaf: Selected Poems , translated by Fady Joudah and published by Milkweed Editions.

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That Smile, That Heart

Little smiles that milk teeth shape,
little smiles that depart
to no return,
smiles that make their rounds in the house,
visit the nice neighbor's shop,
stay on the sidewalk to get to school,
smiles that don't drink milk
and are unharmed by sweets.
But when they depart,
not from caries
and not broken in a pickup
soccer game or from a dentist screwup—
when they leave this world
without growing up into roaring laughter
or kindness to the needy
in the book of good deeds—
when little smiles don't grow
a dream on a lover's pillow
yet depart
with eyes green with hope—
that's when the universe goes quiet
and whimpers.

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It would make absolute sense to me if the world entered a state of permanent quiet, the only sound a constant whimper.

I was torn as to which poem to share from this collection so I decided to share two: the first to honour the children (and women and men) of Gaza and Palestine at large, but also of other wars, conflicts and acts of cruelty whereby children are not only unprotected, but cruelly targeted and denied the safety and happiness they are entitled to.

I share the second poem, ‘Your Laughter’, because I love the truth of it, and I love how it made me feel when I first read it, and because it feels like a necessary reminder that laughter is a brave, rebellious and vital act. Perhaps we can all find reasons to throw our heads back a little more often.

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Your Laughter

The day you explain your laugh to anyone
should never come. Your laugh would lose
its prestige. Laughter
is the excess knowledge no one takes seriously.
And if someone deplores your peals,
pity them, wish them well,
and go after your chuckles
full throttle.

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See you on day six,

Tasnim