Nizar Qabbani

Every time I kiss
After a long separationI feelI am putting a hurried love
In a red mailbox
Translated by B

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...

He lets me listen, when he moves me,
Words are not like other
He takes me, from under my
He plants me, in a distant

I wept until my tears were dryI prayed until the candles flickeredI knelt until the floor creakedI asked about Mohammed and
Oh Jerusalem, the fragrance of
The shortest path between earth and
Oh Jerusalem, the citadel of lawsA beauti...

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

The old word is dead
The old books are dead
Our speech with holes like worn-out shoes is dead
Dead is the mind that led to

My voice rings out, this time, from
It rings out from the house of my mother and
In Sham
The geography of my body changes

Your love taught me to grieveand I have been in need, for centuriesa woman to make me grievefor a woman, to cry upon her armslike a sparrowfor a woman to gather my pieceslike shards of broken
Your love has taught me, my lady, the worst habits...

Good morning sweetheart
Good morning my Saint of a sweetheart
It has been two year mother since the boy has sailed on his mythical journey
Since he hid within his luggage the green morning of his homeland and her stars, and her stre...

If you are my friend
Help leave
Or if you are my lover
Help I can be healed of you

O pupils of Gaza


Teach us

We are accused of
If we dare to write about the remains of a
That is scattered in pieces and in
In decadence and