Letters from Poetry
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“I didn’t know,” I said, my friends thought I might be inside a burning house.But drawing into the shadow of that house in flames,Watching the sparks fly,Saved me from procrastination. I nodded solemnly,Raising a quiet saluteTo the lives of my friends and family. “Live and love,” declared the highest of orders.“Commune and understand, and whisper,…
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The news came early, and still, they wished they had more.The essence of life seemed tangled with the essence of men, and saints alike.Everyone suddenly felt connected to the news. Images formed, of dreams once considered, of paths long abandoned as impossible.The men looked back in regret.The saints, however, looked forward.They bought new clothes.The Good…
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You can be stout and slow,With eyes that twinkle in friendship.The kind who calls out “Good morning!”And in the midst of a laugh,Makes us remember flowers. You can hum under your breath,Roll a coin back and forth over your knuckles.Make it spin and catch the light. The point isn’t to feel great.The point is to…
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At last, I handed my worries back to God.And I placed my faith, love, and hope deep within me.Faith, always the foundation of prosperity.Hope, standing still, watching, ready to help when it could,Or to comfort when it could not.And Love, strong enough to conquer the incurable: even hate.For all hatred is, at its root, self-hate.…
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Truth works very quickly,Swiftly peeling back vanity and undoing pride.Surly and at first, it feels like nothing,But my eyes, once cold, and my voice, once hard,Now tremble. Truth is a madness.It threatened to undo me.I tried to hurl it back,To cast it into the sea.But my lips trembled with fear, not defiance. Still, Truth had…
Hadi Atallah 