By Fadi Abu Deeb

(First published in Inventory Journal, No. 9, Princeton University)

I would love to search for you in the city
To find you among the shelves of an old library,
wherein your fingers are sanctified
with the ointment of the ancient wood.
I would love to find you
in a watch atelier
Surrounded by a halo of pale light,
In an ocean of salvific darkness
before you say to me:
“Put this watch around your wrist,
To tell you the phases of planets!”
***
I would love to find you
Between mythical trunks of odorous rottenness
Under the Shady Bodies
that veil the smell of the Age.
And when you get bored,
You say to me:
“Take me to the mountains!”
***
I would love to ask you,
If you would spend
All the years with me
And see your astonishment,
That they have divided time
Taking it as their property
And that you didn’t know.