Hala

“Name one hero who was happy."
I considered. Heracles went mad and killed his family; Theseus lost his bride and father; Jason's children and new wife were murdered by his old; Bellerophon killed the Chimera but was crippled by the fall from Pegasus' back.
"You can't." He was sitting up now, leaning forward.
"I can't."
"I know. They never let you be famous AND happy." He lifted an eyebrow. "I'll tell you a secret."
"Tell me." I loved it when he was like this.
"I'm going to be the first." He took my palm and held it to his. "Swear it."
"Why me?"
"Because you're the reason. Swear it."
"I swear it," I said, lost in the high color of his cheeks, the flame in his eyes.
"I swear it," he echoed.
We sat like that a moment, hands touching. He grinned.
"I feel like I could eat the world raw.”
― Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles

“I could recognize him by touch alone, by smell; I would know him blind, by the way his breaths came and his feet struck the earth. I would know him in death, at the end of the world.”
― Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles

“عندما نعيش لذواتنا, تبدو الحياة قصيرة ضئيلة تبدأ من حيث نعى, وتنتهى بانتهاء عمرنا المحدود. أما عندما نعيش لغيرنا, أى عندما نعيش لفكرة, فإن الحياة تبدو طويلة , عميقة. تبدأ من حيث بدأت الإنسانية وتمتد بعد مفارقتنا لوجه هذه الأرض , إننا تربح أضغاف عمرنا الفردى فى هذه الحالة
نربحها حقيقة لا وهماً”
― سيد قطب, أفراح الروح

“عندمآ نفجع بِ الفقد تُثقب أروآحُنآ ,
هذآ مآيحدُث بالضبط , شيء يشبه النُدبة غير المرئية ,
عآلقة في أعمق بُؤرة في الروح , تبث أغنيآت حزينة في الفضآء
تتآلف مع أغنيآت أخرى ’ وأخرى ..
أقدآرنآ هي مُحصلة تلك الأغاني التي أطلقنآهآ في الفضـآء !

كم كآنت أغنيتي أليمة !”
― بثينة العيسى, عائشة تنزل إلى العالم السفلي