Ahmed Youssef

“منفىً هو العالم الخارجيُّ
ومنفىً هو العالم الداخليُّ
من أَنت بينهما؟
لا أُعرِّفُ نفسي تماماً
لئلاّ أُضيِّعها. و أَنا ما أَنا
وأنا آخري في ثُنَائيّةٍ
تتناغم بين الكلام وبين الإشارةْ.
ولو كنت أكتب شعراً لقلت:

أنا اثنان في واحد
كجناحَيْ سُنُونُوّةٍ ,
إن تأخَّر فَصْلُ الربيع”
― محمود درويش, كزهر اللوز أو أبعد

“A seeker of silences am I, and what treasure have I found in silences that I may dispense with confidence?”
― Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet

“You said, "I will go to another land, I will go to another sea.

Another city will be found, better than this.

Every effort of mine is condemned by fate;

and my heart is-like a corpse-buried.

How long in this wasteland will my mind remain.

Wherever I turn my eyes, wherever I may look

I see the black ruins of my life here,

where I spent so many years, and ruined and wasted."

New lands you will not find, you will not find other seas.

The city will follow you. You will roam the same

streets. And you will age in the same neighborhoods;

in these same houses you will grow gray.

Always you will arrive in this city. To another land-do not hope-

there is no ship for you, there is no road.

As you have ruined your life here

in this little corner, you have destroyed it in the whole world.2”
― C.P. Cavafy

“It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything.”
― Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club