Poetry: Ashraf AboArafe
O night… did you hide my name within your chest?
Or did it fade among your wandering stars?
I thought the heart a refuge warm and kind,
But it was wind… scattering what was ours.
She was not love… but merely fleeting sleep,
A passing ghost between unguarded hours,
She left upon my lips a bitter question,
And filled my eyes with fragments, torn like scars.
I am the one who hung his heart between two skies,
One calling me… the other standing still,
I walked to you as if I were tomorrow,
Returned alone… and time had lost its will.
You left… without a farewell to the love,
How did you break it all in just a breath?
You were my sun… my story’s only fire,
Then drowned in silence… colder still than death.
Was I the one who turned you into legend?
Or were you always… just the end I met?
You were my prayer… and I, within devotion,
Hid all my hope… yet chanting gave me away,
Until my prostration was finally complete,
You broke my heart… and stole my light away.
I used to write you… every single verse,
Letter by letter… steady, unaware,
Until my longing filled the endless pages,
You tore me down… like poems lost to air.
You lived within my soul without permission,
Then left as if you never once were there,
Was it my fault… that I believed your whisper?
Or that I loved you… past what hearts can bear?
You taught me longing… is a kind of betrayal,
And love can scatter souls beyond repair,
And those who give their hearts without condition,
Will walk away… entombed in their despair.
You taught me hearts… when fooled by false security,
Applaud illusions dancing in the air,
And some connections… die a silent dying,
And some deep love… is just refined despair.
O woman… whose details felt like prayer in rainfall,
How did you turn to fire unaware?
How did you burn the forests in my chest…
And leave behind a hollow burning glare?
I saw in you… a homeland without exile,
While you saw me… a traveler passing through,
And thus our story ends in one cold sentence:
I was the drowning… and the shore was you.
Yet still, despite the ashes deep within me,
I write your name… with firmness I renew,
For wounds, though time may claim to slowly heal them,
Remain like marks no passing years undo.
But when it all was over… I began,
Rebuilding what was shattered, torn, and few,
I gathered all the fragments of my being,
And swore no soul would break me as you do.
For I have learned… that light is born from darkness,
And broken hearts emerge more strong and true,
And those who rise from love’s defeated ruins,
Hold steadier ground… with clearer, sharper view.
So go… my heart no longer begs for mercy,
Nor love… nor longing… nor what we once knew,
It’s enough that losing you has shown me—
I found myself… and finally broke through.
