Nature’s Tenderness

After some moments
we have to leave this place.
The tree looks at us.
We both go
with dew on our hair
the leaves weep,
saying farewell.

Wish

The earth smells of slumber.
The hymn has the aroma of freedom.
I long to smell my freedom
before my final sleep.
I long to sing my hymn
before the earth covers me.

Self-Sacrifice

My face broke long ago.
For ages I lived without my face,
could not cry,
because my eyes were broken too.
Mirrors grew dumb,
locked their worlds away.
My face shattered,
the universe quaked,
my face shattered
and my heart heard the steps of the frost approaching
but refused to resist.
It said: break me, as you did the face,
but spray me like rays of love
where coldness, darkness and flagellation prevail.
Plant my remains in the desert
then the miracle will come to pass,
plant my remains in the desert
then the sand will bear lilies and jasmine.
Sprinkle my blood around the edges of the wound
and through my wounds I will become balsam.

Hanane Aad was born in Lebanon, attended university in Beirut and Paris, and has lived in Vienna since 2009. She is a radio, TV and print media journalist and translator. She has translated two novels from French to Arabic, and published six books of her own poetry, five in Arabic, and the latest Who Will Buy Me Certainty? in English last year. She has given readings of her poetry in Europe, Asia and Latin America, and been translated into a number of languages. As well as international journalism awards, Aad received the Award for Excellence in Foreign Poetry at both the Romanian Poesis Festival Satu Mare in 2011, and the Tudor Arghezi Literature Festival in 2014. Aad and more of her poetry can be found at www.hananeaad.org.

Readers’ original and unpublished poems of up to 40 lines can be emailed, with postal address, to [email protected]. A poetry book will be awarded to each contributor.