I Have No Power
"I have no power to change youor explain your
Never believe a man can change a
Those men are pretenderswho thinkthat they created womanfrom one of their
Woman does not emerge from a man's rib's, not ever,it's he who emerges from her womblike a fish rising from depths of waterand like streams that branch away from a
It's he who circles the sun of her eyesand imagines he is fixed in placeI have no power to tame youor domesticate youor mitigate your first
This task is impossibleI've tested my intelligence on youalso my
Nothing worked with you, neither guidancenor
Stay primitive as you areI have no power to break your habitsfor thirty years you have been like thisfor three hundred yearsa storm trapping in a bottlea body by nature sensing the scent of a manassaults it by naturetriumphs over it by
Never believe what a man says about himselfthat he is the one who makes the poemsand makes the
It is the woman who writes the poemsand the man who signs his name to
It is the woman who bears the childrenand the man who signs at the maternity hospitalthat he is the fatherI have no power to change your naturemy books are of no use to youand my convictions do not convince younor does my fatherly council do you any goodyou are the queen of anarchy, of madness, of belongingto no
Stay that
You are the tree of femininity that grows in the darkneeds no sun or wateryou the sea princess who has loved all menand loved no oneslept with all men… and slept with no oneyou are the Bedouin woman who went with all the tribesand returned a
Stay that way."
Nizar Qabbani
Other author posts
When I Love
When I loveI feel that I am the king of timeI possess the earth and everything on itand ride into the sun upon my horse When I loveI become liquid lightinvisible to the eyeand the poems in my notebooksbecome fields of mimosa and poppy Wh...
Love Compared
I do not resemble your other lovers, my ladyshould another give you a cloudI give you Should he give you a lantern, Iwill give you the Should he give you a branchI will give you the
Language
When a man is in lovehow can he use old words Should a womandesiring her loverlie down withgrammarians and linguists I said nothingto the woman I lovedbut gatheredlove's adjectives into a suitcaseand fled from all languages
Clarification To My Poetry-Readers
And of me say the fools: I entered the lodges of women And never left And they call for my hanging, Because about the matters of my beloved I, poetry, compose