Wait for me there, I will be with you shortly. I left in the morning to meet you but haven't returned yet. Sit here, review my notebook and tools, and write your poem now about a dream going to meet you, and read my latest book. I quote from it what I haven't said to others. Rest a little, if you wish, until I return. Five minutes ago, soldiers passed by, tampering with my heart with their questions and interrogating the air to lay claim to your beauty. Wait for me there; I will join you shortly. I am going to die in your place.

Far away, paths ascend, seeking a step that arrived before them, once, in the high mountains. Far away, trees heavy with fruit lean toward empty cities of passersby in the morning. Far away, a bird sings songs by heart like all free birds, filling baskets with its overflowed songs! Far away, a forest escapes itself, perhaps someday crossing a sea and forgotten desert... and hills.

Far away, small sins lie in the shadow of their temple, and there is prayer, the book, asceticism, and the earth stretching under the wild of calamity and the blowing of swords. There, an oasis fell from the drought of clouds, leaving only screaming partridges and a throat of sands. In the distance, ships never return as ships whenever they carry men to the far and come back loaded with shadows. In the distance, sins – permissible or not– absence falls – presence resonates. In the distance, on a bank not reached, I stand looking inward, contemplating as if different from myself, writing what was said about my darkness, laughter, cries, and everything spoken or will ever be.

In the distance, my heart passed as a stranger and lived. I encounter it from time to time, and it rushes to me as if a child angel. Perhaps my heart was you, after all, maybe it was someone else too! In the distance, as if the poet were a lyre emitting tunes with each brush of the breeze. His poetry is sweet melodies forming meanings, phrases, images, imaginations, and even symbols that resonate within, filling the soul with music, elevating spirit and feelings to where they soar.

Publishing house: Arab Scientific Publishers/Lebanon Number of Pages: 246 Year of publication: 2014