Mirage

Nobody told me when I was born
that my life would be harder than my father’s and son’s
lives.
Nobody told me when I was a child
that life was full of pits and tunnels and trackless
labyrinths.
Nobody told me when I was a youth
that my homeland was not a homeland
and that my enemy and friend are aligned against me
and my lover would be as fickle as a chameleon.
Nobody, except Brecht, told me when I was a young
man
that exiles are shoes,
and only Sartre told me
that political parties are religions,
and only Abu al-Atahiah told me that mankind is a
curse.
And when I became an adult,
I did not tell myself: beware of tomorrow.

Hashem Shafiq