Dali

In Palestine, 

and I mean within 

the holy walls of mosques, 

prayers are incinerated

at dawn. 

I stand there collecting

the dismembered limbs 

of my people

while the world

watches behind 

screens. 

If moments of

silence were held

to honor our dead,

the world would be

silent indefinitely.

If I, too, shall go

amongst other casualties,

you must resist till 

my land is free.

To you who arrived

and sat tenderly on

the hills and valleys

of my heart, I am writing.

Here, there are forests to

wonder and hours to waste

enveloped in pleasure.

I have come to know you

as perfume knows memory,

as windows knows light, and

as streets know the quiet

after midnight.

I have known your skin

and wore it better than

I often wear mine.

Even time forgets it is

moving when you’re nearby.

Even hands don’t

know to hold after

holding you.

Even I pretend I know love,

foolishly hoping you don’t

notice that I have not been

blessed with a joy this great.

You, beloved, are all

the light I have searched for,

indefinitely. Open arms that

welcome me sweetly when I

am waiting, eagerly, to meet

tenderness that is you.

It is as though I have not dined

in joy, in wonder, in bliss of this

feeling before I entered your

apartment, your mind, or life.

I sit here afraid you

may be the start

of a real thrill

to my heart.

I sit here thinking

what a joy it is,

just to be next to you.

I sit here thinking,

and the more I think,

I wonder where you

have been every

time I needed

love like you to arrive.

Honey,
that’s what it tasted like
when you kissed me
in your hotel room;

like honey
on an aircraft
where the air
is so thin
it makes
my head
light.

Loving you
made me
feel that high.

You made
my lonely
forget itself.

You made
me believe
home
was neither
a place nor
a person.

Before leaving,
I wanted to tell you:
of all the places
you have been,
I wanted my heart
to be your favorite.

Instead,
I said: tell me,
what does
Amsterdam
look like?

You smiled,
almost to say:
anywhere could be
Amsterdam,
anywhere with you.