You want me to forget you? 

Easy 
Force my eyes to look at things 
without seeing the sparkle of your smile 
Wipe from my hair the tenderness of your touch 
Remove the warmth of your hugs from my cold arms 
Teach your name not to slip from my tongue when I speak to someone else 
Yes, 
Find another beat for my heart 
And I will disappear like a snowflake when it touches warm ground 

If I didn’t love you, would I survive?
 
Regardless of the fact that I will die like everything on this Earth 
And my body will become fertilizer for the trees 
Or 
Some of it will stick in the tires of cars 
Or 
Maybe hungry birds will crave 
pieces of meat and attack my body with their beaks 
I will become abandoned rubble 
Brooms will kick me from one garbage can to another 
I say: 
Despite all the bad thoughts that may grow in my head 
If I didn’t love you, would I survive? 



Faleeha Hassan is a poet, teacher, editor, writer, and playwright born in Najaf, Iraq, in 1967, who now lives in the United States. Faleeha was the first woman to write poetry for children in Iraq. She received her master's degree in Arabic literature, and has now published 26 books, her poems have been translated into English, Turkmen, Bosnian, Indian, French, Italian, German, Kurdish, Spain, Korean, Greek, Serbia, Albanian, Pakistani, Romanian, Malayalam, Chinese, ODIA, Nepali and Macedonian language. She is a Pulitzer Prize Nominee for 2018, and a Pushcart Prize Nominee for 2019. She's a member of the International Writers and Artists Association. Winner of the Women of Excellence Inspiration award from SJ magazine 2020, and the Winner of the Grand Jury Award (the Sahitto International Award for Literature 2021). She served on the Women of Excellence selection committees for 2023, was a winner of a Women In The Arts award in 2023 and a Member of Who's Who in America 2023. She's on the Sahitto Award's judging panel for 2023 and a cultural ambassador between Iraq and the US.