***
in the dream, I wake
treading the underwater
in the black beneath I see
like horses galloping
the gloom of the sea
they wrestle the living salt
fight to rise to the shore of light
but their pockets and shoes are full
of the stones of grief
their mouths open
to no words
but stones
and why do I see them
from beneath
***
“Shipwreck off Libya”
I read the head
-line and the story
and you are
nowhere inside
you are among the 45
missing and presumed
***
Ya Abdel Wahad Yousif, I
call out to you
at the boundary of salt and sky
aching for echo
I can’t fit the sea in the basin
between my ears
***
You are destined to go
you wrote, which, when it touches
our eyes and tongue, means our
head rocked by the roaring waves,
[our] body swaying in the water,
like a perforated boat
carrying dozens of
[of obscure origin]
sea missing and presumed
capsizing
***
“From Darfur to Libya he scraped his way”
Ya Abdel, how could you see
and still climb into the boat
and not turn away
You’ll die at sea
the waters prevailed
You’ll die at sea
you wrote it was destiny
but isn’t destiny
another name
for
dying:
Time. Language.
Screams. Dreams.
Songs. Love. Music.
***
forgive us our imperial
din
forgive us our doorless
borders
***
قَالَ رَبِّ اغْفِرْ لِي وَهَبْ لِي مُلْكًا لَا يَنْبَغِي لِأَحَدٍ مِنْ بَعْدِي ۖ إِنَّكَ أَنْتَ الْوَهَّابُ
Lord, forgive me, and grant me
a kingdom
that no one
should follow after me
***
Ya Abdel,
I dreamt of you last night, holding
the sea in your arms like a lover, you
kissing its wet mouth, you
at last at rest in its endless bed, your heart
knocking me awake, as if
I could not
***
why should the waters prevail
***
it’s all in vain
you write,
no flash of light
to scare away the darkness
***
the jaws of the sea
waving
the only welcoming
***
may God grant you a kingdom beyond
the kingdom of empires
and warlords beyond
the kingdom of the sea beyond
the kingdom of the drowning stones beyond
the kingdom of the kingdom
beyond
the kingdom belonging to no one
because it belongs to everyone beyond
the doors of the sea
a floating place, a garden the waters will veil
a garden of words
beyond words
that rises
