Beyond the Veil

By Rouba al-Fattal on May 1, 2008

In the dark allies of her eyes

I read the history of a black rose

Still your petrol scent haunting me

My beautiful Saudi princess

 

That night while breaking taboos

I made love to your sword like figure

You whispered in a real ‘Bedouin’ voice

See, there is always a way

To break the tribal rule

 

They managed to cover your date like body

Assimilate you into a black mummy

But you remained a very proud female

Like an arrogant palm tree, standing tall

Where only free birds can nest

 

Your forces of nature

Proved stronger than their hate

And your love

Remains deeper than their reach

Stay with me tonight under your ‘abaya’

Hide me

Between your face cover and your face

Because memories burn greater than fires

I will burn you in my soul,

Like an Arabic tattoo

 

This is your desert

And this sand is your color

You are the princess of the thugs,

Bilqis of Sheba

The true owner of the camel,

The moon and the poem

Possessor of the black sun and cover

 

They tried to exterminate you

Beneath your ‘niquab’

But they forgot that wraps

Create perfect hiding places

Neither duchesses of Bavaria nor princesses of Bourbon

had that luxury

 

So, I will hide with you between your eye and its lashes

Just make love to me tonight and break all the tribal rules

Because Adam had nothing to do with your creation

And only from your womb I came

And only to it I like to return

 

Let oases spring open from your arid land

Permit me to revive your black petals

Allow a rainbow at last to come to live and

Make peace with mirages for ages to come

 

Thousands of years without rights or choices

Thousands of nights and you are still standing,

Right where you started

Aren’t your bare feet tired of stillness?!!

Shahrazad, flee the harshness of the ‘Imam’

These golden chains and doctrines in vain

Because you are, my lovely,

The true princess of the night

 

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