By Khadija Allali

“Beautiful absence… Beautiful presence”
Is a great collaboration between the poet Mounir ben rahal and the translator, pr. Allali khadija.

At the beginning of this poetic work, the introduction to the collection of poems stood with Confucius, who “taught man that no matter how he falls, he must rise.” The poet added: “This is the first and most important lesson I learned from Chinese civilization, and it seems that the texts of these poems were written for life twice, once in Arabic on my hand, and again in Chinese at the hands of a great translator, Professor Khadija Allali .”

These poetry recorded the role played by translation as “a bridge of connection between peoples, civilizations and cultures since the cradle of humanity; Through this linguistic technique, which is like an impossible adventure in unknown lands, we learned the secrets of different cultures.”

The author continued: “This is confirmed by the American philosopher George Steiner, when he says: (Without translation, we would have lived in areas surrounded by silence), and without translation, we would have remained restricted within the boundaries of our culture, and without it, I would not have personally known the rule of Confucius, which conveyed to the world the secrets of China and its ancient civilization.”

Then he added: “Poetry is perhaps one of the most important forms of human culture, honest in conveying life in all its details; The poet does not write because he has to keep pace with events like a journalist, and he does not write to document like a historian.” Rather, he “practices art for art, which I have done for many years, as I write what I feel as I see it.”
Moreover, pr. Allali khadija wrote the first poem in chinese language as a token of love and friendship from the Moroccan people to the Chinese people.

From here, “A Diwan came: Beautiful absence… Beautiful presence, varied in purpose, and it is a depiction of the life I lived, and which I dreamed of, so the texts I wrote varied according to the variety of events and occasions.”

The poet stated that his text, “Beautiful absence, beautiful presence,” was “a gift to the soul of the father who sacrifices everything and we do not care about him until after his departure to heaven.” As for the text of “The Life of Roses,” it is “a poem about nature, that mother who gave us life, and we humans only attack her, consciously or unconsciously.”

He added: “The translator, the professor and friend Khadija Allali , chose two poems about two Moroccan cities, the first is Casablanca and the second is Tangier (the text of Shams Tanga), where the situation of Casablanca was portrayed as a stark example of major cities that lack intimacy among their buildings and residents who race against time. To get bread, in front of Tangiers, the charming Mediterranean Atlantic city, with all its bright past and promising present.

The Diwan concluded with two texts, the first of which evokes “the spirit of the friends we miss due to the circumstances of life as he opens the windows and doors of hope: there is a friend,” and the second is “the immortalization of the spirit of the good grandmothers (you smile as if I don’t see you)”; They are “the most important women of all, and the grandmother is the source of the family, and its spirit is reincarnated to produce peoples.”