Asma Abdullah Jelassi

“You are not dead nor alive.
Each new morning you take your way between the crowd,
but you never wonder where that creature who carried a lamp
Throughout the night to illuminate the road evaporates.”
― asma jelassi أسماء الجلاصي

“لو أتيت الآن
كنت سأغطي كل نقطة مضئية في البيت
كنت سأنقي العتمة كما ينقي الشجر الهواء
القمر نفسه لن يجرأ على الظهور بعد ذلك
لو أتيت
لأغمضت عيني وهمست لك
أنرني الآن”
― asma jelassi أسماء الجلاصي

“No one knew that fangs you showed in a gloomy way
to snatch a loaf of bread from the jaws of crocodiles
and to lick a drop of water from springs guarded by snakes
were before a few hours anything but a faint light
creeping from between your lips into darkness.
No one knew how you spent your night removing shards of glass
stuck in your feet after a piece fell from the mirror of your dreams
and shattered on the asphalt without your attention...”
― asma jelassi أسماء الجلاصي

“in the morning,
When Claude Monet waves to me from behind the sun
I check some poems that I concealed under the pillow
fearing that the wind will disperse them in the air like their predecessors
And I take my way to you.”
― asma jelassi أسماء الجلاصي