malak

“Some periods of our growth are so confusing that we don’t even recognize that growth is what is happening. We may feel hostile or angry or weepy and hysterical, or we may feel depressed. It would never occur to us, unless we stumbled on a book or person who explained it to us, that we were in fact in the process of change, of actually becoming larger, spiritually, than we were before. Whenever we grow, we tend to feel it, as a young seed must feel the weight and inertia of the earth as it seeks to break out of its shell on its way to becoming a plant. Often the feeling is anything but pleasant. But what is most unpleasant is the not knowing what is happening . . . Those long periods when something inside ourselves seems to be waiting, holding its breath, unsure about what the next step should be, eventually become the periods we wait for, for it is in those periods that we realize that we are being prepared for the next phase of our life and that, in all probability, a new level of the personality is about to be revealed.”
― Alice Walker, Living by the Word: Essays

“كُلُّ ما في بَلْـدَتي
يَمـلأُ قلـبي بالكَمَـدْ .
بَلْـدَتي غُربـةُ روحٍ وَجَسَـدْ
غُربَـةٌ مِن غَيرِ حَـدّْ
غُربَـةٌ فيها الملاييـنُ
وما فيها أحَـدْ .
غُربَـةٌ مَوْصـولَةٌ
تبـدأُ في المَهْــدِ
ولا عَـوْدَةَ منها .. للأبَـدْ !
* * *
شِئتُ أنْ أغتـالَ مَوتي
فَتَسلّحـتُ بِصوتـي :
أيُّهـا الشِّعـرُ لَقَـدْ طالَ الأَمَـدْ
أهلَكَتني غُربَتي ، يا أيُّها الشِّعرُ ،
فكُـنْ أنتَ البَلَـدْ .
نَجِّـني من بَلْـدَةٍ لا صوتَ يغشاها
سِـوى صوتِ السّكوتْ !
أهلُها موتى يَخافـونَ المَنايا
والقبورُ انتَشرَتْ فيها على شَكْلِ بُيوتْ
ماتَ حتّى المــوتُ
. . والحاكِـمُ فيها لا يمـوتْ !
ذُرَّ صوتي ، أيُّها الشّعرُ ، بُروقـاً
في مفازاتِ الرّمَـدْ .
صُبَّـهُ رَعْـداً على الصّمتِ
وناراً في شرايينِ البَرَدْ .
ألْقِــهِ أفعـى
إلى أفئِـدَةِ الحُكّامِ تسعى
وافلِـقِ البَحْـرَ
وأطبِقْـهُ على نَحْـرِ الأساطيلِ
وأعنـاقِ المَساطيلِ
وطَهِّـرْ مِن بقاياهُمْ قَذاراتِ الزَّبَـدْ .
إنَّ فِرعَــونَ طغى ، يا أيُّها الشّعـرُ ،
فأيقِظْ مَـنْ رَقَـدْ .
قُل هوَ اللّهُ أحَـدْ
قُل هوَ الّلهُ أحَـدْ
قُل هوَ الّلهُ أحَـدْ
* * *
قالَها الشِّعـرُ
وَمَـدَّ الصّـوتَ ، والصّـوتُ نَفَـدْ
وأتـى مِنْ بَعْـدِ بَعـدْ
واهِـنَ الرّوحِ مُحاطاً بالرّصَـدْ
فَـوقَ أشـداقِ دراويشٍ
يَمُـدّونَ صـدى صوتـي على نحْـريَ
حبـلاً مِن مَسَـدْ
وَيَصيْحــونَ " مَـدَدْ " !”
― احمد مطر

“What horrifies me most is the idea of being useless: well-educated, brilliantly promising, and fading out into an indifferent middle age.”
― Sylvia Plath, The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath

“I want to make love, but my hair smells of war and running and running.”
― Warsan Shire, Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth