Blue as Being Beyond Reach 

How delicate you look as you step on the pulse of my heart, 

How sweetly woven of the loveliest silk, 

Your eyes as blue as heaven reflected in a deep sea, 

With waves forever folding over one another — 

Let them drown me in their profound looks, 

While I am taken away without the faintest resistance. 

But alas, being too old for such young beauty, 

I shall retreat into my silent grief, 

Away from the music of your departing steps.

Pale with Clamping Hands 

I see the pallor that you wear 

like winter’s light late in the morning 

A fracture hidden under calm, 

a wound you’ve learned to fold and hide. 

I will not blame you. No. 

You carry what would break a lesser soul, 

but softness is your brightest wear— 

that gentle thing that keeps you there—

betrays you to my watching eyes, 

spills through the quiet you maintain. 

Your tenderness, try as you might, 

refuses to pretend no pain. 

So what is there to do 

but witness, from this careful space, 

the strength that holds itself together — 

and love the light still in your face.

Hussein Nasser Jabr (Born 1964) holds a PhD in English Philology from the University of Craiova, Romania. He currently works as a faculty member at the College of Education, Imam Ja’afar Al Sadiq University in Iraq. An Iraqi poet and literary translator, he has translated numerous works between English and Arabic, including philosophy books, a study on sectarianism in Iraq, art monographs, and poetry collections by Faleeha Hassan and some other poets. His translations have appeared in Gilgamesh and Iraq Literary Review. He has published original Arabic poetry, critical studies, and articles on translation. A member of the Union of Writers in Iraq since 2002, he has participated in international conferences and poetry festivals.