Found in Translation, by Anja Meyer

Shahd Alnaouq- Our Pulse Against the Drones

Illlustrated by Jana Ames. Copyright, November, 2025 (34 pages).

For the last few weeks, I have been working on the German translation of this
beautiful zine. Shahd’s tender poems are filled with love and longing, especially for quiet, for silence. We often say, “I just want my peace and quiet,” but translating this felt like getting to the core of what it means to not have this peace, to not have comforting silence. The world is so loud, especially right now—and it is even louder in Gaza, where the noise of war is a constant companion:

“The drone growls above us,
its sharp sound cutting every word.”

Shahd makes you feel in her poems what noise and darkness can do to a
person: “Darkness fills everything”. And in making us feel, we learn, but only if we read and listen closely: “A moment where silence wasn’t born from death, but from calm.”

So much of translation is not only about finding words, it’s about learning new ones and new contexts. Shahd writes about food (maqluba, dukkah, kabsa); looking up names and pictures conjures up a whole world that I as a reader/translator am gracefully invited to be a part of. She has a great sense of humour that pops up in several poems: “Did you steal the cookies too? What crime did the cookies commit…?” There are many lines that feel like small prayers:

“Oh, I miss the past sea of Gaza, its breath of fish and blessing.”

Mariam, who is proofreading, sends me notes about the difference between the call to prayer and the prayer itself, about religious connotations; she suggests other words, clearer ones, better ones. This back and forth of notes is another connection, another layer, both of us holding up Shahd’s words, creating bridges to the other language.

How wonderful it would be to have pupils and students at schools and unis translate these poems- and through the translations to enable them to attempt an understanding of the connections we can forge, the words we can find, the words we need to find in every language to convey what is happening in the world. By naming things, we pull them out into the open, by translating them, we make the words of others shine, so that they can be shared with more people, who will talk about them, pass them on, write about them, sing about them, draw about them, be inspired to help and learn:

“So keep standing, keep speaking, keep holding – you are not
outside our struggle.”

We are all the guardians of language and to make sure words are not lost, we must use them, speak them, write them- in whatever language we have.
It´s an honour to be trusted with someone else’s words, to try and find a rhythm in your own language that works, to write something new without losing what the original text is saying. To close with Shahd’s words:

We will open the road with our own steps.
Where the dust is thick, we will draw fresh lines.
Where the walls are gone, we will hang new windows.

Find out more about Shahd and her beautiful work here: