Time
I clasp the stem of time
My head a fiery tower
What, then, is this blood
Ever rooted in the sand?
Flaming instants nullify our words
My soul's forgotten its passion's
Purpose, forgotten its heritage
Hidden in house of forms
Forgotten what the rain recounts
What the trees ink inscribes
What cleaves me from myself?
Might I be more than one?
My history, my ruination?
My promised land, my pyre?
Might I be several?
Each interrogating the other?
Who are you and where from?
In this be madness
Then let madness edify
Let madness be my guide
Adonis
Ali Ahmad Said Asbar (Arabic: علي أحمد سعيد إسبر; transliterated: alî ahmadi sa'îdi asbar or Ali Ahmad Sa'id) born January 1930, also known by the pseudonym Adonis or Adunis (Arabic: أدونيس), is a Syrian poet and essayist who has made his career largely in Lebanon and France. He has written more than twenty books in his native Arabic.Adonis is a pioneer of modern Arabic poetry. He is often seen as a rebel, an iconoclast who follows his own rules. "Arabic poetry is not the monolith this dominant critical view suggests, but is pluralistic, sometimes to the point of self-contradiction."
Adonis was considered to be a candidate for the 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 Nobel Prize in Literature, but the awards went to British playwright Harold Pinter, Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk, British novelist Doris Lessing and French novelist J.M.G. Le Clezio.
In 2007 he was awarded the Bjørnson Prize.
