As I was reading Joseph Anton, I learned that in 1992 the Syrian poet Adonis submitted a poem to a book published to show solidarity with Salman Rushdie in defense of freedom of speech. One line in particular grabbed my attention: Truth is not the sword / Nor the hand that holds it. I loved it and so I decided to learn more about this poet and his work. I visited the website http://www.oocities.org/kavitayan/adonis.html and selected this poem to share.
Peace
to faces ambling in the loneliness of the desert,
to the East draped in grass and fire peace to the Earth
washed by the sea peace to its passion...
Your thunderbolt of nakedness grants me its rains thunder grips me in my breast Time has fermented O, advance this is my blood the glow of the East scoop me and vanish lose me the thunderclap is for your legs the lightning scoop me take my body as lining for your body my fire is the orientation and the planet my wound is guidance I spell...
I spell a star which I paint,
running away from my homeland in my homeland.
I spell a star which he paints
in the footsteps of his vanquished days.
O, ashes of the Word.
Does my history have a child in your night?
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