Poetry by Andree Chedid (from Egypt)

Who Remains Standing? 
 

First,
erase your name,
unravel your years,
destroy your surroundings,
uproot what you seem,
and who remains standing?
Then,
rewrite your name,
restore your age,
rebuild your house,
pursue your path,
and then,
endlessly,
start over, all over again.



Stepping Aside

Often    I inhabit my body
as far as the cavities of my armpits
I cut into this body
to the fingers' limits
I decode my belly
I savour my break
I navigate in my veins 
with blood's speed

The breezes rest on my cheek bones
My hands touch things
Against my flesh your flesh settles me

Often    by being my body
I have lived
And I am living

Often    from a point without place
I glimpse    this body
pounded on by days
assailed by time

Often    from a point without place
I stifle my story
From past to future
I conjugate the horizon

Often    from a point without place
This body    I distance it
And from this very stepping aside
alternatively
I live.