Come to Me
Poet: Anwar Alkhatib
Translator: Allison Blecker
It is not I alone who waits for you
Rather I am with me
In interpretations of madness
or in the imagination of lovers
I have kindled a fire
around the properties of my heart at the height of the cypress trees
and I left a door open for your thirsty horses to pass
to the sea of stars, I am there
I assemble a necklace from the pearls of yearning
to encircle your arrival
Don’t hurry, let me sow the path with butterflies
so even if you continue on, a rainbow will follow behind you
So come, it is not I alone who waits for you,
and untangle the braids of stars so I can search the night
Perhaps a spark hid here
Then I breathe onto it the sighing of my letters
and set it free, perhaps a hair from you clinging to it
A lover’s shooting star delights in it
Or perhaps a cloud hid there
and I fed it the fire of my deaths
I encircle it with the veil of a stranger
and I allow a glitter to seep from my heart
Then it will pour rain more coveted than desire in winter,
more coveted than a naked carnation
kissed by the breeze after hardship
Come to me
Play a symphony on the halo of my waiting
and tune the inhalation in the key of the drowned man
and caress with your slender little finger the lips of speech
So I won’t blame the doves in you, lose yourself
and lose me in meditations on marble
I can shine or fall asleep
among an idea you have not articulated
or a wave you have not set free
or a sigh you sent forth with your eyes
or a tremor in a smile
And let me sleep…
among a feminized letter
and a morning breaking, and don’t wake me with a question
Continue describing your Narcissistic waist,
your crimson breast,
your pink flowers
and the irritation of languages with the rose
And come to me
so I can undress between your letters
Small bushes cover me,
the size of a female partridge’s eyebrow
so I can slowly organize your bewilderment
It is not important when we expire,
that life is long
or short
What is most important is that you not arrive unnoticed
Come to me with all of your spontaneous clamor
in time with the Zajal poetic meter
For I am not alone, rather I am with me
I rebelled against myself
So come to me quickly