*** Flower and Butterfly

Classical, symbolic, graceful stencil 

for a poem that knows it’s a poem

as short

as it is beautiful, 

fleeting lines,

enclosing aeons.

I will return to them

again and again.

I shall reveal my story

but perhaps not exactly today.

…A phantom

awoke in my mind.

… Who waits for no-one,

asks nothing

Of anyone,

especially them

(Flower and Butterfly).

Setting off from a semi-secret spot

and vanishing somewhere unknown,

a thread of dullness and duty pegged

with old photos,

too old, 

of gorgeous surprise and timid smiles,

cracked at their corners.

When I and the master restorer

glued and mended the photo,

a teardrop fell…

Even the most brutal words

wouldn’t punch so hard!...

A photo of a belated spring,

a photo of my beloved picking flowers.

… Adhan is heard from the mosque-side,

Bells are heard from the church-side

But I… remain without voice!...