When my friend Clemencia and I visited the ARK Gallery in South Ealing about two months ago, my friend Yousif Naser showed me this poem written by his friend Saadi Youssef. I was fascinated by the look of it and read it out loud, not knowing the effect it had on me. I wonder what would happen if a man had read it out loud.

Reading this poem caused the same kind of reaction, an eruption of tears, when I read a poem almost 10 years ago "A False Step" by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Can anyone find that poem and e-mail me please?

Bon Journal

Woman - a poem

Written by the famous Iraqi poet Saadi Youssef, this poem ignited a torrent of emotions in me. The following version is translated from Arabic.

How will I drag my feet to her now?

In which land will I see her

and on which street of what city

should I ask about her?

And if I find her house

(let's suppose I do)

will I ring the bell?

How should I answer back?

And how will I stare at her face

as I touch the light wine

seeping between her fingers.

How should I say hello...

and how will I take the pain of all these years?

Once

twenty years ago

in an air-conditioned train

I kissed her all night through...

------ by Saadi Youssef, 8 Sept 1984

27 August 2003 Wednesday

analyticalQ poetry collection

If thou must love me, let it be for nought ..... by Elizabeth Barrett Browning