I ripened
On embers
That drink in the horizon’s company
Blow on me…
All blue
Exposing its destiny
To temptation
Diverse
As the seasons
Unique
Like my breast
When it succumbs
To your palm
The more inaccessible I am
The more persistent you are
When I surrender
You give in to another
As if your faithfulness to me
Is a betrayal of yourself
My joy for you
Fills me
To aching
I fear me
When I fall in love with an illusion
The truth of which you are
I fear from you
A truth that would shatter my illusion
You perpetual
Deserter
I engraved you
As faith
In my heart
You destroy and build me up
You build me up and destroy me
Exalted
Like an abyss
My splendour
In my disarray
A child you are
Chasing butterflies
And crying
When their colors
Stain your fingers
I am all the butterflies
If you burn one
Another rises up
From your ashes
Here I am
By the fireplace
A witness
To your burning
Here you are
In my entrails
A witness
To my desire
I dance
To the rhythm of your pulse
Which are my fingers
From yours?
I caress
Your deadly stoop
On my weariness
Life stands up
An elderly
Longing for the beginnings
Painful
Are the desires
When lavished
Like flames
On the prisoner of ash
With life you gamble
For the sake of a fleeting
Moment
When you haven’t yet
Left
My breast
You are now
On the verge of life
In me
About to die
Translation: Norddine Zouitni