To A Man...

I thought you could be a faithful dog

an Arabian

horse unsaddled

a forerunner to some god

that tastes unlike the dried dates of the tribe.

For myself

I have torn up all heir’s contract with the past

uprooting my clan's trees
embracing the freedom of outlaws. 

Alas, I discovered

your backbone was

but a pillar of fog frozen

in the Levantine mirror of Narcissus; 

and you: nothing
more than a Sultan's herald 
another pimp
hailing the virtues of the fruits
of the Fertile Crescent

-Fawziyya Abu Khalid

*Translated from the Arabic by Kamal Boullata