The Faithful Student - By Majed Dodeen Poem by Majed Dodeen

Life —
a trail of broken dreams,
woven from whispers of yesterday.
Its silence hums,
its threads —
soft thoughts, trembling in the dark.

Paintings shimmer in the mind,
like fleeting flashes of old songs.
Anthems dissolve into halos of mist,
words scatter —
fragile petals along forgotten roads.

And when the sketches of memory rise in revolt,
I turn inward —
a pilgrim of my own years.
A man, weary, broken with longing,
asks his soul:
Who are you?

O heart of love, keeper of verses,
I mistook you for venom,
but you were healing wine.
I sought the light,
yet fire wrapped me in its burning arms.

They said you were a mirage,
an illusion, a dream.
But I —
I tore the crown from my head,
and crowned you instead.
I etched my name —
a faithful student in your sacred halls.

I love the spell of your eyes,
I kiss your brow —
for my homeland is the light of your face.
They condemned my love,
so chaste, so innocent,
yet I will love you as honor demands,
and I will sing —
to the world,
to you:

O oxygen of my life,
O fountains of my soul,
sailing forever within me!

The voyage stretches —
endless, uncharted,
across seas that never sleep,
across shores that never weep.

It searches,
scattering the chambers of my heart,
digging deep through the archives of memory.

In my eyes —
a storm brews,
a fire unresolved,
a strength that bends but never breaks.

In fleeting moments —
the veil of secrets falls,
waves awaken from their slumber.
Your eyes —
twin stars,
twin oceans,
casting glances like ripples,
wringing memory drop by trembling drop,
until tears become rivers.

And from the flood —
new roots are born,
meadows untouched by sorrow,
where tears ignite into candles,
and sorrow shatters into light.

In every cell,
in the grieving heart,
love's silent gifts remain —
buds breaking open,
blooms rising high,
mending the broken years.