A difficult equation To divide yourself between two girls Between two countries Of police and pineapples Between the two, you cling to a bottle In a bar, with cockroaches leaping about. Once you had the words, your path to the palm trees From where did they come with their walls ? You turned aside to watch The light of the distant masts Rising and falling Between the sobs and the sighs. *** A bitter equation To remain as you are, Tossed upon the sand Sketching a horizon, then erasing it a flash of lightning, then removing it. The near sky is more desirable The distant sky … more beautiful But the guards’ boots Will bar you from the realm of nostalgia which twines between the blossoms of your heart and the window. *** A difficult equation To exchange a dream for an illusion, A woman for another An exile for an exile. And I ask : Where is the path ?! ...... ..... Amman, 11 January, 1994 ----------------------- (That Sama’ ghariba “page 34”)