Poem and drawing by Najat Alshafie

Time is an Arabian horse running wild in the desert

if I don't fly like a falcon

I can’t catch it

if I don't tame it with Passion

I’d fall from its back

and break my heart.

Over the top of a palm tree

a full moon hangs in the womb of the sky

in the middle of the darkest night in the summer

shimmering rays invade the deserted nests between the silky leaves.

I, a short woman, slowly walking by

hanging a golden chain around my neck

Two shining bracelets rattle when I move

smelling wariness in the air

my shadow as tall as that palm tree.

Hope flows from the beak of the mountain

to the mouth of the sea

wasted and exhausted like ME

turns to grains of salt melted in the dark Ocean

I hold a flask the shape of a Sormedan

catch the holy Fire

drink of that sacred river

But still feeling thirsty.

Time and Hope

and more Time and more Hope

and more poems to make in the shadow of love

Are what the Womanness in ME hopes for!

Written by Najat Alshafie

25 August 2020

Drawing by Najat Alshafie