Walk calmly
And don’t lean towards me
I don’t want anyone to fall because of me
I want to stay until the end
Innocent of any collapse
A simple yelp
Can cause a crack in my chest
Neither basalt nor granite
Fragile as a widow weeping over her young
Fragile and can hardly aspire to eternity
But to this I will guide you
Neither past nor future,
I am at this moment
Able to disappear quickly
From the air a child intercepted me
Then went off to feed me sand
And dress me in sand
Pure and... no difference between my flesh and my shirt
The buttons themselves are my bones
No chisel ever grazed me
No hammer swung around me
No Pharaoh cracked a whip
So that I’d be ready
On the day of his victory over his people
Walk calmly forward
And take pictures with me
You’re allowed to watch your souls
Shine on my shadows
Watch your backs
Stretching endlessly into the sea
Move on now
Before I vanish in a wave
And all that’s left before you is sand
I speak to you as I collapse
And you don’t hear me
I dig my nails into your eyes
And not an eyelid of you moves
I am the passing moment
Fathi Abdel-Samie is an Egyptian poet and researcher.
