Bushra Elsnousi
The clock ticks.
I whisper to the distance:
“slow down”
But the rushing figures
Keep at their movement,
Pacing the woods,
Stabbing innocence
Into unaware beasts.
I have a little girl.
We call her ‘Able’
I take her to the park at times,
I never understand what I feel
When she smiles.
Her happiness pauses time
As a moment seems to last,
And future recedes to past.
She asks of superlatives.
“What’s the biggest thing ever, daddy?”
I point at her heart,
And I then start:
“Bigger than life,
Bigger than death,
The latter may scare you,
But alas you regain some strength.
Bigger than war,
Bigger than peace,
You appreciate the blessing
Only past the release.
Bigger than your surroundings
Including me,
All I’ve been,
And all I can ever be”
She whispered:
“Any remedy?”
I cried out:
“We live!
We give!
We forgive!”