Lit Fire
Four poems from Moroccan Youssef Oubihi
Lit Fire
In the sacred stillness of the night
And a heart filled with liquid fire,
Your memory looms between my eyes,
Awakening my ever-lost desire.
True that I was drifted — drifted away
By the current, like a branch of a tree
That once was part of the forest
And now in the river, to the sea.
Our stream is in a constant move,
Never the same if you blink-
Thus, it is made of our love,
Floating, but doomed to sink.
Yet, the fire in my heart is still lit,
Uttering your name with every beat,
Asking you for a second chance to admit
If you believe our hearts one another complete.
Your Beauty
Your beauty lies in my eyes,
In the eyes of all humankind.
Your beauty is beyond compare,
Sensational even to the blind.
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Oh darling! How can I tame
These savage glimpses of yours?
Your beauty is terrifying!
Like a wild beast, like a savage wolf,
Tearing my meatless corpse
Dead or still dying?
So long as I can breathe and see,
You are the belle of the ball for me.
Deceiver
I — I only write to bid you farewell.
The spell has finally been removed,
And no place in my heart is left to dwell
For you, as love being a game is proved!
What — what is the sea without the river?
And the lovely moon without the sun?
Love stems not from a wily deceiver,
Nor does a rotten heart match a sound one.
My Moon
I would love to say, “You are my moon,”
Save that it gets the light from the sun!
Nay! Your shine per se is done.
Hail! You are the star that glows alone
Just beside the lonely crescent moon.
Youssef Oubihi is a Moroccan poet and student researcher at Sultan Moulay Slimane University in Beni-Mellal, Morocco. He grew up in the Souss region, where he breathed, imbibed, and absorbed poetry from its magical air, sea, and land. His work has been featured in the Moroccan Chronicles Journal, Brittle Paper, Adelaide Literary Magazine, and VoegelinView journal.
