Desire Moving Through Maps of Matter and other poems by the Syrian poet Adonis

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Ali Ahmad Said Asbar (Arabic: علي أحمد سعيد إسبر‎; transliterated: alî ahmadi sa'îdi asbar or Ali Ahmad Sa'id) born 1 January 1930, also known by the pseudonym Adonis or Adunis (Arabic: أدونيس), is a Syrian poet and essayist who has made his career largely in Lebanon and France. He has written more than twenty books in Arabic language. He has been called the greatest living poet of the Arab world.^[1]

Desire Moving Through Maps of Matter 

No, I have no country 
except for these clouds rising as mist from lakes of poetry. 
Shelter me, Dhawd, guard me, Dhawd! -- 
my language, my home-- 
I hang you like a charm around the throat of this era 
and explode my passions in your name 
not because you are a temple 
not because you are my father or mother 
but because I dream of laughter, and I weep through you 
so that I translate my insides 
and cling to you as I tremble as my sides shudder like windows 
shaken by a wind let loose from God's fingers.

West and East

Everything stretches in history’s tunnel….
I turn this map around,
for the world is all burned up:
East and West, a heap
of ash gathered
in the self-same grave.

The Edge of the World


I release the earth and I imprison the skies.
I fall down in order to stay faithful to the light, in order to make the world ambiguous, fascinating, changeable, dangerous, in order to announce the steps beyond.

The blood of the gods is still fresh on my clothes.
A seagull's scream echoes through my pages. Let me just pack up my words and leave.