Kelmat Poem by Adeeb Kamal Ad-Deen

Whenever I want to drink from the glass
The glass of poison
As Socrates did.
I remember you
And I throw the glass away.
Whenever I want to travel throughout the Heaven
As Dante did
Or to have my brother and myself lost
As Joseph's brothers did
Or to enter the fire
As Abraham did.
I remember you
And I stop traveling,
Loss,
And fire.
All right, then
If you take me back to life.
All right …
But what is the solution
When death, my faithful friend,
Does not stop knocking at my door?
Tell him with the innocence of your heart
Not to come back
Ere we meet
On the peak of letter Mountain
Or in exile
Or in legend.
All right, then
For me to resume practicing my role
In the drama of the lost humanity.
A drama that continued from Babylon to Baghdad
To Beirut, Berlin and London
Then surely ended in hell.
All right, then
To resume practicing my role
As your father.
But I can not talk well to you
Since your alphabet is six thousand years old
Nor can I dance well with you
For my white and red blood cells
Have been exhausted by oppression and captivity
Nor can I give you advice
Because you are more mature
Then the queen bee.
That is how things are
I bend before you
Like an emaciated lion
Ruined by years, loneliness and earthquake.
I bend before you
And ask you again
Nay, I beg you as an Indian beggar
To let me drink the glass of poison
And I promise you I will never drink it again,
My daughter!