Love In Four Languages
(from the Book of Translations)

a book of Kurdish melodies
a book of Arabic proverbs
a books of Turkish memories
a book of English adorations

Tonight
come to me
in a dream
On this night
we will be born into one
from this dream
Outwit the quickness
of your thoughts
that are unsure
Outwit the alertness
of my heart
that is trembling
Open softly
the door of me
Translate this love
in all of your languages

I
Kurdish
I am watching the stars
Whisper nothing, even less
Shelter my eyes with your hands
Open your rose petal lips
drink the cream of my skin
I am in exile
Unable to eat or sleep, ecstatic
in shrouds
in ashes
on the shore of a continent
that carries your name

II
Arabic
The moon ascends
Seven years the moon rose
then fell as I waited
at seven gates
Pale as this night
My heart lived shut
like a pearl
Trampled by war
at the borders
of sunrise and sunset
Men were bees
whose wings carreid honey
swarming to nest
before you

III
Turkish
I am listening to the Sea
It is you
that enters me
without words
without mercy
Sharp as a knife
The steel of your fingers
crushes my bones into stars
Your cries are my cries
I fly
on the breath of your soul
on the scent of your skin
Swear as I do
we are clear, we are
surrendering nothing
to all heaven and earh
Say-
you take
what is yours

IV
English
Constellations move
in your eyes, I pour
down your chest like soft rain
you shudder
under the fall of my fingertips
Columns of marble
Your thighs are veined with sapphire
My hands gather you
soldier, my king
you are here without words
or maps
at the mouth of the Nile
Your history is written
on the waves that dissolve
between my lips
You have slept in my blood
While I slept on a bed of fire
I am on the bridge to Damascus
I am beneath the Polar star
I am naked before Heaven
I am shameless, speechless, blind without limbs
in your arms
You call my name
I dissolve in a bed of tulips
Your hands pull out my life
You fill me with yours
I am ablaze
thirsting in a garden
that glistens with tears
You call my name
your tongue carries me water
I find you
above me
wordless
waiting
still as a storm
your heart exploding
inside me


Garden of Poetry