Ashes Poem by Samih al-Qasim

Don't you feel we have lost so much
that our ' great ' love is now only words ,
that there's no more yearning , no urgency,
no real joy in our hearts, and when we meet
no wonder in our eyes?

Don't you feel our encounters are frozen ,
our kisses cold,
that we've lost the fervor of contact
and now merely exchange polite talk ?
Or we forget to meet at all
and tell false excuses . . .

Don't you feel that our brief hurried letters
lack feeling and spirit,
contain no whispers or dreams of love ,
that our responses are slow and burdened . . .

Don't you feel a world has tumbled down
and another arisen ?
That our end will be bitter and frightening
because the end not fall on us suddenly
but came from within