AlAnoud Writes

I was a wanderer of my own dust,

lost in the alleyways of “I” and “me,”

until the Heart’s Thief came

silent as dawn,

swift as a flame through dry reeds.

We think we walk the path,

but it is the Beloved

who drags us by the soul.

I cried out,

“Come to me,

let me see You,

let me taste the wine hidden in Your sky.”

For what is love

but the ache that empties us

of all but longing?

Beloved,

You heard me.

When Your Presence arrived,

every earthly sweetness

became a broken cup.

A thousand heavens

could not contain the joy

You poured into a single breath.

Who am I?

A mirror wiped clean.

A candle whose flame

has forgotten its name.

When You entered,

I vanished.

The caller disappeared.

The call disappeared.

Only the Answer remained.

There is no “I” left

to say “I love You”

Love itself speaks now.

Beloved,

when You finally took my name,

You left no trace of me behind.

The drop returned to the Sea,

and the Sea

remembered it had always been one.

Come,

let the world fade.

Let us drown again

in the sweetness where

the Lover

and the Loved

are one.