To Obe
I bring my arm close to my face
___to take another whiff of you;
it's yet another year
___I don't wish to celebrate.
The sun, as we lay beached
___in the shadow of the tower,
your eyes closed so lightly
___I could read them underneath,
remembered our faces
___from suns before.
And in the humid hum of the afternoon,
we conspired with the sun in our silence.
There was no one else then
___but the two of us,
like a dozen years before,
shedding the lives we accumulated since
___on the side
stashed like overcoats in the heat,
like old chips of paint
___from a room that crumbles still.
But in that moment,
___as you slept with your eyes open,
listening to me watching you,
___as when we used to kiss,
we dropped them,
___the years, the people,
the names we acquired in between.
The sky stood steely above our heads,
___watching us, wishing us,
missing in us the skies of another time,
when love smelled like fresh rain,
and the rain smelled of us.
I bring my arm close to my face
___to take another whiff of you;
it's yet another year
___I don't wish to celebrate.
The sun, as we lay beached
___in the shadow of the tower,
your eyes closed so lightly
___I could read them underneath,
remembered our faces
___from suns before.
And in the humid hum of the afternoon,
we conspired with the sun in our silence.
There was no one else then
___but the two of us,
like a dozen years before,
shedding the lives we accumulated since
___on the side
stashed like overcoats in the heat,
like old chips of paint
___from a room that crumbles still.
But in that moment,
___as you slept with your eyes open,
listening to me watching you,
___as when we used to kiss,
we dropped them,
___the years, the people,
the names we acquired in between.
The sky stood steely above our heads,
___watching us, wishing us,
missing in us the skies of another time,
when love smelled like fresh rain,
and the rain smelled of us.
© Copyright 2010 Obeida Sidani
13 comments:
"when love smelled like fresh rain,
and the rain smelled of us."
what a sweet and wonderful image!!
LOVE IT ... :)
Beautiful. Absolutely stunning imagery. Thank you.
sublime poem ashraf! I saw your images... it was too bright!
‘The sun, as we lay beached
___in the shadow of the tower,’
I know what dictates your choice of words and imagery, but there is something about those two lines that just turned me off.
‘Your eyes closed so lightly
___I could read them underneath,’
The paradox here is very a very used one, but I do not know why I like its use here.
‘remembered our faces
___from suns before.’
Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff.
‘Like old chips of paint
___from a room that crumbles still.’
You use this image quite heavily in your poems, and I like it every time.
‘We dropped them,
___the years, the people,
the names we acquired in between.’
Gorgeous. Ouf.
‘when love smelled like fresh rain,
and the rain smelled of us.’
Ouf.
Love,
Ton frère Ahmad
wow!
loved the passage of time and how it changes things!
very well written
So much magic your brought with this poem
So many beautiful lines here, and the one that has lingered in my thoughts: "missing in us the skies of another time." That line, for me, encapsulates 'longing' here.
A breathtaking read. Thank you.
Cheers.
interesting blog, good poetry, will be back again
Hello - I produce a little podcast called miPOradio and Bob Marcacci selected this poem to be featured in the next broadcast. Are you available to record it or would you like for me to have Julie or Luc read it? Please let me know as soon as possible. We are in production.
Thank you,
Didi Menendez
and i'm checking the pronunciation of your name, if you have time to let me know...
To all the old-timers, thanks for your comments! So appreciated.
And to the new faces, welcome to arch.memory! I hope to see you here again.
Didi & Bob, I will e-mail you back. Many thanks!
Hehe how silly I wanted to post a comment and then decided to read what other people have to say, then I read this Anonymous and I was thinking that my God this person makes so much sense, guess who it turns out to be??
Love,
Ahmad
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