The years of our lives

The Years of our Lives

A new year is appearing on the horizon

And a passing year is dying

Years pass and never come back

Each one brings us closer to the tunnel

They pass fast, as they are in a hurry

They pass, running, as if they are in a race

They vanish in front of our eyes like a tape of dreams

They fall in front of us like burned butterflies

One of them harvests the darkness of our hair

To plant cotton at every section

One takes some of our sight

And puts a little deafness in our ears, as earrings

One impounds the youth from our faces

And leaves them to wrinkles and cracks

But one of them looks like it wants to slaughter us

It doesn’t leave without leaving a scare on our neck

Every time we think the years are inviting us to a feast

We only find bitterness in our dishes

Every time we think they are smiling for us

We discover that their smiles are just like ink on paper

How long those years are, and how short!

They steal our lives and push us down the hill

They are gone in a blink of eye

They disappear as the sun sinks in the twilight

***

A Poem translation

Tarif Youssef-Agha

An Expatriate Arab Syrian Writer & Poet

Member of the ‘Syrian Revolutionary Writers Assembly’

Friday December 30, 2012

Houston, Texas

http://sites.google.com/site/tarifspoetry