Iconic Syrian poet Nizar Qabbani is one of the most influential voices in the history of Arabic literature. His pioneering style and unmatched literary talent helped shape what we know as contemporary Arabic poetry.
Qabbani's timeless and universal poetry transcended both time and culture, touching hearts and enriching minds across the world to this day and allowing him to remain one of the most widely-read poets.
Qabbani wrote about everything from love, grief and identity to feminism and Arab nationalism. These are 14 beautiful quotes from his poetry about love.
1. "In the summer, I stretch out on the shore and think of you. Had I told the sea what I felt for you, it would have left its shores, its shells, its fish, and followed me."
2. "Should another give you a cloud, I give you rain. Should he give you a lantern, I will give you the moon. Should he give you a branch, I will give you the trees. And if another gives you a ship, I shall give you the journey."
3. "When I love, the water gushes from my fingers, grass grows on my tongue. When I love, I become time outside all time."
4. "My lover asks me: 'What is the difference between me and the sky?' The difference, my love, is that when you laugh, I forget about the sky.
5. "I hadn't told them about you, but they saw you bathing in my eyes. I hadn't told them about you, but they saw you in my written words. The perfume of love cannot be concealed."
6. Don't worry, my sweetest. You are in my poetry and in my words. You might grow old in years, but you are forever-young in my pages."
7. "Because my love for you is greater than words, I've decided to keep quiet."
8. "Love happened at last, and we entered God's paradise, sliding under the skin of the water like fish. We saw the precious pearls of the sea, and were amazed."
9. “Your love taught me to grieve and I have been needing, for centuries a woman to make me grieve, for a woman to cry upon her arms like a sparrow, for a woman to gather my pieces like shards of broken crystal.”
10. "If you were at the level of my madness, you would cast away your jewelry, sell all your bracelets, and sleep in my eyes."
11. "I said nothing to the woman I loved but gathered love's adjectives into a suitcase and fled from all languages."
12. "And my mistake was dragging love out of its cave into the open air, making my chest an open church for all lovers."
13. “My letters to you, are greater and more important than both of us. They are the only documents, where people will discover, your beauty, and my madness."
14. "And how can I erase you from my memory's papers? When in my heart you're like engraving in stone. I love you, one who resides in my blood, whether you were in China or you were on the moon."
