As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow

by Zoulfa Katouh

No matter what happens, you remember that this world is more than the agony it contains. We can have happiness, Salama. Maybe it doesn’t come in a cookie-cutter format, but we will take the fragments and we will rebuild it.’

‘You deserve to be happy. You deserve to be happy here. Because if you won’t try it in Syria, then you won’t try in Germany. Getting to Europe won’t solve your problems.’

It reminds me that as long as the lemon trees grow, hope will never die.

‘In this eye of the storm, his words come alive in my mind. I see us strolling around Berlin, hand in hand, while he balances his art supplies on his shoulder. I’d pick carnations from the local florist and fashion them into a crown. On certain days, when the sun

shines through the clouds, rays scattering over the fields, it would remind us of Homs. Of home.’ – from As Long As the Lemon Trees Grow, Chapter 34