When I told you:
“I love you”
I knew
I was leading a coup
Against the tribal law,
That I was tolling the bells of scandal.
I wanted to seize power
To increase the number of leaves
In the forests.
I wanted to make the oceans bluer
And the children more innocent.
I wanted to put an end to the savage age
And to kill the last Caliph.
It was my intention
When I loved you
To break down the doors of the harem,
To protect women’s breasts
From men’s teeth:
So that their nipples could
Dance in the air with delight.

                      …

When I said:
“I love you”
I knew
Savages would follow me
With poison spears,
With bows and arrows.
My photograph would be plastered
On all walls/
My fingerprints
Would be distributed to all police stations,
A big reward
Would be given
To whomever carried my head to them
To be hung at the city gates
Like a Palestinian orange.

                      …

When I wrote your name
On the notebooks of roses
I knew
All the illiterate,
All the sick and impotent men
Would stand against me.
When I decided to kill the last caliph,
To announce
The establishment of a state of love
Crowning you as my queen,
I knew
Only the birds
Would sing of the revolution with me.