Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi

1969 / Omdurman

Are You The One?

I only notice
a woman who gets no notice
someone who follows my footsteps
I see myself
multiplied -
delving in images, drifting in memories
intuiting exodus
I am blind to boats enameled with light for show
Even when light graces the treetops,
their hearts are dark
I am elusive as perfume, a vagrant gust of wind,
and no one remembers me

A great souk
A great souk
swallows the sound of a scythe
with a silence entrenched in its roots
Worms ignore a woman
who burns her history while she is born anew
Whoever lights up the past
sets the future ablaze
with a light that will neither burn boats nor taint hearts
106 Total read