As I touch you
a silence enters my heart
and I become still
like a garden
in the light of dawn
Tag: Tanka
Tanka # 215
This poetry
I gather it inside of me
like a promise,
and each time I utter it
it says your name.
Tanka # 214
كالنجمة الوحيدة
بقي الشعر في داخلي
،كل هذه السنين
أتبعه لأمضي
.على دربي الوحيد
This poetry within me
a lone star shining
through the passing years;
following its light I go
on my solitary path.
Tanka # 213
After I’m gone
think of me
as nothing more
than a whisper
traveling the wind
~
This morning
I kissed life again
and it filled my heart
with a longing
for something unnamable
~
From each wood hike
I gather bird songs
and frail scents
of fallen leaves and wildflowers
that I knit into poems
Tanka # 212
Writing one poem
then another,
this all my life will be…
Sitting alone I gaze
at the autumn moon.
Tanka # 211
For a reason
I can’t understand
the little bird
pecking a fruit
fills my heart with joy
Tanka # 210
She didn’t feel
the frost on her skin
until it melted
under the warmth
of his fingertips
~
مشّطتُ شعرها على مهل
وقبّلت الندى على كتفيها
ثم جلست بينما استلقت هيَ
وأمسكتُ القلم وسال الشعر
حبرا على بشرتها
~
Things break,
people die,
friends and lovers
go into the night
and return no more.
Tanka # 209
Regardant la pluie
tomber sur les champs
mon cœur se rempli d’une paix
que je n’ai jamais connu
entre les hommes
~
Regardant la rivière
j’ai vu ma vie
glisser vers la mer,
du temps il ne restait
qu’une feuille amère.
Tanka # 208
Autumn Leaf, Tannourine, Lebanon, December 2020
أمسكت حبها
بقلب مرتجف
لم يعرف هذا العالم
الا كقصيدة مكتوبة
على ورقة خريف
~
Falling rain,
its sound
in my heart takes
the shape
of longing.
Tanka # 207
Parfumé d’aurore
son souffle
me retient au monde
seulement pour écrire
un dernier poème
~
Waiting for no one
as dusk approaches,
still I watch the road
filled with yellow leaves
raked by the wind.
Tanka # 206
وهجُها في قلبي
نورٌ دافئٌ منهمرٌ
من بينِ الغيوم
بعدَ شتوةٍ من شتوات
أيلول
~
أكتب
والكلمات في مخيلتي
نبيذ أحمر
يحترق
على شفتيها
~
Tracing the freckles
along her skin
I suddenly found myself
spinning inside a universe
of endless stars
Tanka # 205
With my ear
against her belly
I listened
to the quiver
of the distant stars
~
واضعا اذني
على بطنها
كراهب في الحقل
استمعت
الى صوت الله
~
When I write
it is always her skin
that I feel shivering
under the tip
of my pen
Tanka # 204
The old village wall…
I pass my fingers
over its stones
and ask them
what they remember
Tanka # 203
من كل شيء
تعرّت
وارتدت ما حاكه لها
من نفسه
وضوء القمر
Tanka # 202
Relished slowly
with yearning lips
the wine I poured
into the hollows
of her collarbones
~
Today the wind
comes to tell me
of her deep longing,
the woman whose breath
I feel in my bones.
Tanka # 201
Five years
after her death
my sister’s birthday
comes laden
with spring rain
Tanka # 200
Between his hands
her yearning body
became an altar
offering its wine
to the tremor of his lips
~
Night over the woods –
alone
in their cabin,
her face buried
in the pit of his neck.
Haiku # 667 | Tanka # 199
On the occasion of the ending year.
The years passing by…
a chasm deepening
in the cave of my solitude
~
New Year’s Eve…
in the family album
the faces gone by
~
Last night of the year…
another leaf falls
into the fire of my longing
~
At year’s end
I measure the distance
between you and me…
a thousand years
of unquenched longing
Tanka # 198
My eyes
opening them slowly
to my lover’s kiss –
No! It was just the roll
of distant thunder!
~
Her kiss
thunders in my head;
as it fades
it leaves my heart
drenched in warm rain.
Tanka # 197
Filled with longing
my heart cracked open,
its many jeweled chambers
crimson with the fire
of my beloved’s lips.
Rooted in Love 