The Beginning of Speech

That child I was came to me
once,
a strange face.
He said nothing. We walked,
each of us staring at the other in silence, our steps
a strange river running in between.

We were brought together by good manners
and these sheets now flying in the wind,
and we split.
A forest written by the earth,
watered by the seasons' change.

Child who once was, come forth!
What brings us together now,
and what do we have to say?

Adonis
(translated, from the Arabic, by Khaled Mattawa)