In the memory of water

A poem by: Nawras Muhammad

Translated from Kurdish: Abdulkhaliq Yaqubi

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We were water in each other’s body

When they looked after us.

Our love was naked, wet, and clear,

But in the memory of this city, we stay as a spring.

In poetry it was only you,

When I was writing my tree,

When I was writing my river.

We were water.

To talk about holes and atoms,

To melt in the scapular bones of each other.

We wrote poetry.

I wanted to write rain,

You became dewy on my skin.

In those days, when we ate from each other’s language,

The eyes of tradition and custom were like bullets,

But we chose flowers and dance.