What happens to us in the afterlife?
We go to parties. People everywhere,
And food, and brothers waving from afar,
And children, and their children’s children, and
The party never ends. It never stops.
All is forgiven in the afterlife:
The wrongs we never righted; all the things
We said and did not say; the breadth of time
We kept ourselves away from one another.
Forgive, for we did not forgive ourselves,
And so I saw my guilt and called it “you,”
So you became the shame I could not see
In me.
“What’s your favorite flower? Favorite herb?”
Give me jasmine and gardenia.
“Bad for you” ‘s not always bad for you.
I know; I am the boy who can be bad,
But my, how I can make it seem so good.
The highest act of faith is losing faith,
When everything they said was good is bad,
And everything they said was bad is good –
Now, everything I say is bad is bad,
And everything I say is good is good.
Back to Poetry.
Yousef Alqamoussi 