I love you...by Nizar Qabbani

I knew when I said
I love you
that I was inventing a new alphabet
for a city where no one could read that 

I was saying my poems
in an empty theater
and pouring my wine
for those who could not
taste it.
.
~ Nizar Qabbani
Art by Joana Kruse

If you are my lover....by Nizar Qabbani

If you are my lover, then help me leave you 
If you are my doctor, then help me recover from you 

If I had known Love is too dangerous, I would not have loved
If I had known the sea is too deep, I would not have sailed 

If I had known my end,
I would not have started

I missed you, so teach me not to
Teach me how to cut the roots of your love from my depths

Teach me how a tear dies in the eyes
Teach me how love dies and longings commit suicide

O, you who turned life to a poem in my eyes
and planted your wounds in my heart and took patience away

If I am dear to you, grab my hands
As I am deeply in love from head to heel
As I am deeply in love from head to heel

~ Nizar Qabbani
(“A message from under water”)

I am drowning... drowning... drowning...by Nizar Qabbani

If you are my friend...

Help me...to leave you
Or if you are my lover...
Help me...so I can be healed of you...
If I knew....
that the ocean is very deep...I would not have swam...
If I knew...how I would end,
I would not have began

I desire you...so teach me not to desire
teach me...
how to cut the roots of your love from the depths
teach me...
how tears may die in the eyes
and love may commit suicide

If you are prophet,
Cleanse me from this spell
Deliver me from this atheism...
Your love is like atheism...so purify me from this atheism

If you are strong...
Rescue me from this ocean
For I don't know how to swim
The blue waves...in your eyes
drag me...to the depths
blue...
blue...
nothing but the color blue
and I have no experience
in love...and no boat...

If I am dear to you
then take my hand
For I am filled with desire...from my
head to my feet

I am breathing under water!
I am drowning...
drowning...
drowning...

~ Nizar Qabbani
(“A message from under water”)