I forgot to post yesterday!

[brigdh]

Be Near Me Faiz Ahmed Faiz (translated by Agha Shahid Ali)

You who demolish me, you whom I love,
be near me. Remain near me when evening,
drunk on the blood of the skies,
becomes night, in its one hand
a perfumed balm, in the other
a sword sheathed in the diamond of stars.

Be near me when night laments or sings,
or when it begins to dance,
its steel-blue anklets ringing with grief.

Be here when longings, long submerged
in the heart's waters, resurface
and when everyone begins to look:
Where is the assassin? In whose sleeve
is hidden the redeeming knife?

And when wine, as it is poured, is the sobbing
of children whom nothing will console -
when nothing holds,
when nothing is:
at that dark hour when night mourns,
be near me, my destroyer, my lover,
be near me.

Comments

[rm.livejournal.com]

Cinnamon on steak with hot pepper is fantabulous.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Huh. I've never even heard of that. It does sounds good, though. I adore chocolate with cinnamon and hot pepper in it.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Ah. There's a restaurant in Brooklyn I must take you to.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Oh? Which one?

[rm.livejournal.com]

Oznot's Dish

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Ah, cool. I haven't heard of that one.

[rm.livejournal.com]

It opened in Williamsburg when I lived there in like 1995, and it was a real casual, place with mismatched dishes. It's gotten fancier, although is still utterly bohemian, and it has food from all around the mediterranean -- there's steak with cinnamon and hot peppers over rice, whole roast bulbs of garlic, cous cous and tabouli, plates of roasted root vegetables -- it's like a union of Greek, Italian and North Afrcan foods. It's very smart. Also they make a hot chocolate that is chocolate, cinnamon and ground almonds.

Of course, I just wrote all of this, googled it and found it's closed! Waaaah. On the other hand, I know how to make that steak, and teh hot chocolate. and the garlic bulb.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Oh, too bad! That sounds really excellent. But really cool that you know how to make them.

[rm.livejournal.com]

And I must now go to bed, perhaps to dream of a clean kitchen. Of course, from what you told me about your roommate, other than a certain duck pot, you needn't dream.

I hope you're papers are going well, and if not, at least going.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Yeah, you must be exhausted. I think I'm going to bed soon.

Eh, they're alright. I hope your article got finished!

[rm.livejournal.com]

Haven't even started it!

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Ha! Well, there's always tomorrow.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Who needs credit cards when one has procrastination?

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Hahaha. Ah, yes. Procrastination. It is my favorite thing.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Mine too, since I'm clearly still awake.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

But can you procrastinate on sleep? Isn't sleep itself procrastination on, like, being conscious?

Although I guess you can procrastinate on sleep when you have to get up early the next morning.