Ingy Higazy

“The wind, one brilliant day, called
to my soul with an odor of jasmine.

"In return for the odor of my jasmine,
I'd like all the odor of your roses."

"I have no roses; all the flowers
in my garden are dead."

"Well then, I'll take the withered petals
and the yellow leaves and the waters of the fountain."

the wind left. And I wept. And I said to myself:
"What have you done with the garden that was entrusted to you?”
― Antonio Machado

“يقررون عليه الرحيل. يسحبون الأرضَ من تحت قدميه. ولم تكن الأرضُ بساطاً اشتراه من السوق، فاصل فى ثمنه ثم مد يده إلى جيبه ودفع المطلوب فيه،وعاد يحمله إلى داره وبسطه وتربع عليه فى اغتباط. لم تكن بساطاً بل أرضاً، تراباً زرع فيه عمره وعروق الزيتون. فما الذى يتبقى من العمرِ بعد الاقتلاع؟ .. في المسا يغلقُ باب الدارِ عليه وعلى الحنين.. تأتيه غرناطة.. يقولُ يا غربتي! راحت غرناطة.. يسحبونها من تحت قدميه, ولم تكن بساطاً اشتراهُ من سوق بالنسية الكبير”
― رضوى عاشور, ثلاثية غرناطة

“Does poetry - or language or philosophy or music or architecture, even that of our temples - really need to dance to the same tune as our political beliefs or our religious convictions? Is the strict harmony of our cultural identities a virtue to be valued above others that may come from the accommodation of contradictions?”
― Maria Rosa Menocal, The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews, and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain

“I sing your restless longing for the statue,
your fear of the feelings that await you in the street.
I sing the small sea siren who sings to you,
riding her bicycle of corals and conches.

But above all I sing a common thought
that joins us in the dark and golden hours.
The light that blinds our eyes is not art.
Rather it is love, friendship, crossed swords.”
― Federico García Lorca