End

Translated by Stephen Watts and Marga Burgui-Artajo

From the icebox of
sadness, I take out the arak
and drink the whole bottle.
I drink to my friends, all exiles,
through the tunnels
without country, without
cigarettes, without passports
I raise a toast glass after glass,
then corpse after corpse.
And when I collapse on the street
from my drunkenness
it is they who will carry me
home in their coffins.

Baghdad 1993