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They say the world will end soon.
They say that the nuclear weapons made,
Due to fearing ‘the other’,
Have become a curse, a plague, a scourge
On those who made them
Even more than those they were made to scare...
And I wonder:
Will the nuclear weapons be the cause of the world’s end?
Or will the world’s end be caused by humanity’s fear, complicity, and submission?
And if what they say is true,
Before the world ends and before I die,
I wish to drink one last cup of cardamom-flavored tea
Taste one last fig, peach, or apricot,
Smell a quince,
Dip one last piece of bread
In Palestinian thyme and olive oil…
Before the world ends,
I wish to smell a few pine needles,
To breathe the smell of the first rain shower
After a long, hot, and dry summer…
Before the world ends and before I die,
I wish to read one more book
Out of the thousands of books that I still want to read…
Before the world ends and before I die,
I ask for one more spring
To smell bunches of Iraqi narcissus flowers.
I want to live one more autumn,
To enjoy the magical colors
Of the dying leaves on the trees
As they challenge death with beauty
Right before falling on the grounds of indifference…
But my biggest wish before I die is
For my death not to be the end of the world…
[Original poem published in Arabic by ahewar.org on October 13, 2022]
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