Creative Writing

Existence

In solitary life, I was a lost question;

In the encompassing darkness,

my answer was concealed.

You were a bright new star
radiating light from the darkness of the unknown,
revealed by fate.

The other stars rotated around you
—once, twice —
until it came to me,
your unique radiance.

Then the bleak blackness broke
And in the matching tremors
of our two hands
I found my missing answer.

Oh you! Oh you intimate, yet distant!
Don’t you remember the coalescence
Of your spirit in flames?
Of my universe with yours?
Of the two poets?
Despite our great distance,
Existence unites us – Existence!
 

-Fadwa Tuqan, tr. Michael R Burch