A Prayer

A Prayer
by Adonis
I prayed that you would remain in the ashes
I prayed that you would not see the sun nor awaken–
We didn’t experiece your night, we weren’t taken to sea with the blackness;
I prayed, Phoenix
that enchantment is guiding and our encounter
is in the fire in the ashes,
I prayed that madness will lead us.
Translated with the [...]

For One More Time

For One More Time
by Adonis
For one more time for one last time
I dream that I fall in place–
I live in the island of colors
I live like a person
They are reconciled, the gods of blindness and the gods of vision
For one last time.
Translated with the help of Mirene Ghossein

I Yield My Days

I Yield My Days
by Adonis
I yield my days to an identity
rising and falling under my vessel
and I dig, in my eyes, my grave.
I am lord of the phantoms I grant them
my sex and yesterday I granted them my language
And I cried out to History, defeated
Stumbling, I tripped over my lips
And I cried out to the [...]

A Language For Distance

A Language For Distance
by Adonis
Yesterday underneath the eyesockets (the rock quarry) I traveled under the dust
so I heard our echo
and I heard the collapse of borders.
And I returned, and it is said I forgot there,
from amazement, my footsteps
My footsteps? Well, as if I saw them
free, moving between the arteries and between the lungs
And the [...]