Letter from under the Water

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If you were my friend, 

Help me to leave you...

Or if you were my beloved, 

Help me to be healed of you...

If I had known

that the sea was so deep,

I would not have dove in...

If I had known 

That Love was so perilous,

I would not have fallen in love.

If I had known my end, 

I would not have begun.

I longed for you,

So teach me not to crave...

Teach me 

how to pull up the roots of your love

From the depths.

Teach me

how tears may die in the eyes,

And love may pass away,

And yearnings commit suicide.

Teach me 

How to rebel against you, 

And to be saved from the sword of yearning.

I remained after you

A book with torn papers...!

You are all my past and present 

And all the days of my living...

My love for you is poetic love 

So why do you kill poetry in me?

My love for you is watery

So why do you push me to the rock?

Oh you whom I bestowed the sun’s light,

So why did you give me darkness in return...

I presented you the forests,

So why did you give me the desert?

You tour in the land

While you let the tempest chew my flesh...

I am in the water

While your voice is coming to me

From under the water,

And the resemblances of your face 

Coming out for me like a giant,

Coming from the depth of water...

The lines of your hand chase me 

Even in water…

Ah, if my memory would drown,

If your face and history would drown

If thousands of things would drown...

Ah how worn out I feel…!

copyright:

Nizar qabane

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