PRAYER AT ZAGORA (from the original Darija of Ayoub Skila)

To the men snoring softly
in their curves of camel-shade:
I send you snowy dreaming.
God grant this.

Rhyse Maddocks was born in Cardiff, and studied Arabic at Swansea University. He moved to Morocco teaching English, where he grew to love the Darija language, and its poetry.
Ayoub Skila (1976-2014) was a well-known, self-taught Berber and Darija poet. He inherited his father’s Argan orchard, and worked it all his life. He considered poetry a noble, though secondary, pastime.