Fawzi Karim Poems

Late afternoon.
The houses are shaded in the lightest of pencil strokes.
...

Winter bares the tree to a solitary nest.
Rain drips through its mesh of twigs.
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What a Wonderful World, Louis!
Your voice, rough as the bark of a tree,
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One has learned to allow a tiny space in the head for contingency.
Yet, losses befall suddenly
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When exile took us by surprise,
a surgeon ready-scrubbed
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I shut the door - rain flings into my face -
And make for the nearest bar.
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These scavengers for wood beside the Thames,
I take in their glutinous, brown, tar-like stink.
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The god I have always denied enters the house.
My father, lying in white, is in his death agonies.
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In the summer, Lord, we idle, plotting our futures.
At your bidding, the seasons of spring and autumn
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The darkness of this night is greater
than the power of a sultan.
...