Fariha’s Reviews > The Butterfly's Burden > Status Update
Fariha
is on page 53 of 348
Who am I
behind the city wall? No mother kneads my long
hair with her eternal henna, and no sister
braids it. Who am I outside the wall between
neutral fields and an ashen sky. Be
my mother in the stranger's land. And take me
gently to who I become tomorrow
Echo in echo, and I moved into you
as a name moves from one creature to another.
We were two strangers in two faraway lands a while ago,
— Mar 27, 2026 10:59AM
behind the city wall? No mother kneads my long
hair with her eternal henna, and no sister
braids it. Who am I outside the wall between
neutral fields and an ashen sky. Be
my mother in the stranger's land. And take me
gently to who I become tomorrow
Echo in echo, and I moved into you
as a name moves from one creature to another.
We were two strangers in two faraway lands a while ago,
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Fariha’s Previous Updates
Fariha
is on page 132 of 348
The soldiers measure the distance between being and nonbeing
with a tank’s scope ...
We measure the distance between our bodies
and mortar shells ... with the sixth sense
— May 28, 2026 08:10AM
with a tank’s scope ...
We measure the distance between our bodies
and mortar shells ... with the sixth sense
Fariha
is on page 132 of 348
Here, by upslopes of smoke, on the house steps
there is no time for time,
we do what ascenders to Allah do:
forget pain
— May 28, 2026 08:09AM
there is no time for time,
we do what ascenders to Allah do:
forget pain
Fariha
is on page 131 of 348
Life.
Life in its entirety,
life with its shortcomings,
hosts neighboring stars
that are timeless ...
and immigrant clouds
that are placeless.
And life here wonders:
How do we bring it back to life!
— May 28, 2026 08:04AM
Life in its entirety,
life with its shortcomings,
hosts neighboring stars
that are timeless ...
and immigrant clouds
that are placeless.
And life here wonders:
How do we bring it back to life!
Fariha
is on page 131 of 348
no night in our artillery-glistened night
our enemies are sleepless,
and our enemies ignite the light for us
in the blackness of shelters
by the downslope of hills, facing the sunset
and time's muzzle,
near gardens with severed shadows,
we do what the prisoners do,
and what the unemployed do:
we nurture hope
— May 28, 2026 08:03AM
our enemies are sleepless,
and our enemies ignite the light for us
in the blackness of shelters
by the downslope of hills, facing the sunset
and time's muzzle,
near gardens with severed shadows,
we do what the prisoners do,
and what the unemployed do:
we nurture hope
Fariha
is on page 131 of 348
(To a killer:) If you’d contemplated the victim’s face
and thought, you would have remembered your mother in the gas
chamber, you would have liberated yourself from the rifle’s wisdom
and changed your mind: this isn’t how identity is reclaimed!
— May 07, 2026 10:24AM
and thought, you would have remembered your mother in the gas
chamber, you would have liberated yourself from the rifle’s wisdom
and changed your mind: this isn’t how identity is reclaimed!
Fariha
is on page 130 of 348
Our weight has become light like our houses
in the faraway winds. We have become two friends of the strange
creatures in the clouds ... and we are now loosened
from the gravity of identity’s land. What will we do ... what
will we do without exile, and a long night
that stares at the water?
— May 07, 2026 10:21AM
in the faraway winds. We have become two friends of the strange
creatures in the clouds ... and we are now loosened
from the gravity of identity’s land. What will we do ... what
will we do without exile, and a long night
that stares at the water?
Fariha
is on page 130 of 348
هو الوقت يفعل ما تفعل الشمس
والريحُ : يَصْقُلُنا ثم يقتلنا حينما
يحمل العقل عاطفة القلب، أو
عندما يبلغ القلب حكمته
It is time that does what sun
and wind do: it polishes us then kills us whenever
the mind bears the heart’s passion, or
whenever the heart reaches its wisdom
— May 07, 2026 10:19AM
والريحُ : يَصْقُلُنا ثم يقتلنا حينما
يحمل العقل عاطفة القلب، أو
عندما يبلغ القلب حكمته
It is time that does what sun
and wind do: it polishes us then kills us whenever
the mind bears the heart’s passion, or
whenever the heart reaches its wisdom
Fariha
is on page 129 of 348
في الحصار، تكون الحياة هي الوقت
بين تذكر أولها
ونسيان آخرها.....
In siege, life becomes the time
between remembering life’s beginning
and forgetting its end ...
— May 07, 2026 10:12AM
بين تذكر أولها
ونسيان آخرها.....
In siege, life becomes the time
between remembering life’s beginning
and forgetting its end ...
Fariha
is on page 129 of 348
When the fighter planes disappear, the doves fly
white, white. Washing the sky’s cheek
with free wings, reclaiming splendor and sovereignty
of air and play. Higher and higher
the doves fly, white white. I wish the sky
were real (a man passing between two bombs told me)
— May 04, 2026 07:02AM
white, white. Washing the sky’s cheek
with free wings, reclaiming splendor and sovereignty
of air and play. Higher and higher
the doves fly, white white. I wish the sky
were real (a man passing between two bombs told me)
Fariha
is on page 125 of 348
أيها الواقفون على العتبات ادخلواء
وإشربوا معنا القهوة العربية
اقد تَشْعُرُونَ بأنكُم بَشَر مثلنا
أيها الواقفون على عتبات البيوت
اخرجوا من صباحاتنا
نطمئن إلى أننا
بشر مثلكم
You standing at the doorsteps, enter
and drink Arabic coffee with us
(you might sense you’re human like us)
you standing at the doorsteps of houses,
get out of our mornings,
we need reassurance that we
are human like you!
— May 04, 2026 06:54AM
وإشربوا معنا القهوة العربية
اقد تَشْعُرُونَ بأنكُم بَشَر مثلنا
أيها الواقفون على عتبات البيوت
اخرجوا من صباحاتنا
نطمئن إلى أننا
بشر مثلكم
You standing at the doorsteps, enter
and drink Arabic coffee with us
(you might sense you’re human like us)
you standing at the doorsteps of houses,
get out of our mornings,
we need reassurance that we
are human like you!
two? What have you done with my freedom? Whenever
my fear of you mounts I rush into you,
my beloved stranger, since my ardent desire
is my only credit.