“Rock and Sand”
Raghda Mouazen, Syria
As rock and sand we live
You so strong cannot be harmed
Taking over the surface, keeping me captive
The pressure goes on and on till I burned
Breakable now I to glass turned
You say sand I used to be I won’t break
There I lay shattered under rocks
They say it was the heat and you made no mistake
“My Sole Sun”
Raghda Mouazen, Syria
I truly adore
Your dazzling shine
Lovely upon my core
The dreary night you confine
With flames of vitality you always bore.
Stunned, Impassioned I behold
How you can reach
Every one and each
Corner of my world.
I thrive to survive the mighty storm
My roses are worn, my trees are bare
My fields to a cemetery transform
Only death, only despair
To roam!
I see only black, I feel only cold
Weary as I am, I cannot hold
Impossible for life to flower, to grow
Without your blaze, without your warmth
It is not utter darkness though.
A fair gleam can reach
These silky strings of gold
Penetrate through the shadows
Gently laid upon my sorrows.
Look! how the gallows
Turn to buds and blooms
Oh how the rainbow
Defeats the ache and the gloom
As if I were never hollow.
The bleak dew
Now on the petals glow
A colourful starry sky
You paint in the morn.
The darkness of the night cannot prevail
Or plot the black death of my soul
For although you have worn your veil
A white glimmer of hope you send keeps me whole.
But how do the stars glitter far?
Perhaps every single one
Has its own universe
To bring life to,
To flicker.
Forever in your care
Under your large wings
I find tenderness, I find love
How I adore you up above,
With your everlasting beauty
And compassionate heart,
How vast my love is for thee,
Mother.
“Overthinking”
Raghda Mouazen, Syria
Filled with all gloomy thoughts
The air enters my lungs
After whispering into my ears
Leaving me between life and death hung.
You shouldn’t have followed the goblins
Staying with humans was best!
But I have to save the tiny butterflies
And give them the burden of my chest.
A snake keeps hissing
In the air spreading its poison
The butterflies are missing
And the snake is plotting with the goblins.
I swallow the poison downwards
The selfish words keep hissing
I look the snake in the eyes
To stone my mind turns
A new sting on my heart
And it burns.
The goblins laugh and party
Drinking the tears,
Dancing on the sobs
Into giant monsters they turn
Feeding on the fears
Bearing a sword reciting them to me.
Only thorns it plants
Horns they have bent
Words that redden they grant
But believe me certainly not meant!
Blood dripping roses they give
To others who won’t live
To say that they have witnessed the giant’s teeth
A smile they show when I pass by
A knife they stab when I turn my eyes.
Bear the pain I can not
I once escaped but no, now I’m not
I had to regret a lot
For forsaking the slaughter
And die quietly among their laughter.
The strong memory of the ears
Did no good for the red weary eyes
Reciting nothing but fears
Generating only sobs and sighs.
In my throat it is still
The bitterness of the poisonous letters
Breaking my bones
Eating up my flesh
Sucking the crimson well
That feeds my heart.
The pillow is fed up with my tears
The night is furious at my sobs
That broke the sacred silence of the ears
Still, darkness is the only friend that never left me.