Love

a small colorful cabin

covered with snow

just like a place

in fairy tales

with snowflakes floating in the air

whispering loudly

touching my eyes, ears

my nose and lips

with every touch

words of a hopeful song

echoing in my head

“forget about the past

the future is ahead

love is a flower

grows in the heart

tears are its water

the more you cry

the stronger it becomes

let it rise its head

above the snow

just remember 

spring comes after winter”

Rainbow

Rainbow

seven colors of the light

pure drops of the rain

the most beautiful arch

over the land

brings happiness

let us make a wish

lovers kiss under it

it’s a gift from the Creator

as a reminder that

after rainy days

there’s a rainbow

to make our dreams come true 

A Lecture Scene

I wanted to write a lecture scene very similar to one in "The Mirror Has Two Faces".

The lecture is on language and culture. The topic is philosophical debates on etymologies of words. After doing some brainstorming to find an interesting word to discuss its underline philosophy, the lecturer comes up with the word "the one". And the discussion starts.
Lecturer: OK, everybody. Any ideas on "the one" and its philosophical etymology? I don't need language kinda etymology, I want to hear what thoughts, feelings caused the word "the one" to be created and accepted to convey the speakers mind, also heart?
Student 1: It's easy... everybody knows when you say "the one", it means you love that person, they are special
Lecturer:Hmm. How many girls have you said "oh, you are my love, I love you" ?
student 1: eeerm, it's different...but since you've brought it up, it's not always about love, it's about hormones, you know what I mean?
(all students laugh)
Lecturer: Got it, Casanova (she laughs too).. what about saying it while you're feeling it?
student 2: ohh, it's absolutely different. Your heart beats at the speed of the light. Your whole body shakes. It's cool cause it has side effects like you get high without , you know, grass or mushrooms
(All students laugh again)
Lecturer: well, well, well...what hidden treasures I have in my class (she is laughing too) OK, let's develop it. Would you still feel the same if she broke your heart or treated you the way you didn't deserve or hurt you deeply? Would you?
Student 2: I'd feel some pain, I guess, but then, I'd move on. I mean, life goes on and everybody has one life to live.
Lecturer: Then, you have various "ones" on different occasions you share some romance with
Student 2: hmm, maybe...
Lecturer: The one is not the person you love. In order to be "the one", that person must love you unconditionally, no matter what. If you treat someone kindly, give them pleasure, make them feel important, of course, they love you. In fact, the thing they love is the treatment coming from you. This is not "the one". This is "mutual relaxation" (everybody laughs)...On the other hand, the nature of true love requires time, relatively a long time. When other person knows you, understands you, feels you, sees you as a perfect combination of imperfections which means love and accept you as who you are with all your flaws, only then that person becomes "the one" as when you hurt her or him, when you make them cry,when you make them die, they still continue to see your good sides and find some ground to forgive you. They help you when you're down, get your back, support you for your dreams. And they don't expect anything in return except your kiss in the morning and a sweet apology, that's it. The one means the person loves you for better and worse; and in this material world, it is a unique blessing. That unique love for you in their heart makes them your "the one".... Any comments?
( the students seem like really moved )
Lecturer: OK. I want you to write a reflection on this class right now. C'mon, start writing!
All students: Nooooo, ufffff....

Blessing

an ordinary day,
nothing unusual
the Sun is bright
a warm breeze
is touching my skin
the tree behind my back
is an old friend
the grass smells fresh,
feels comfortable
each and every one
is giving me some piece of peace
yes, it's an ordinary day
like all other blessings

Tomorrow

The notes of a song
like the white foam on waves
are floating in my head
to raise my spirit,
to give me strength
who would think
an old but timeless love song
saved me from dark
and made my tomorrow
the brightest day of all

How to Think Creatively - Tony Schwartz - Harvard Business Review

How to Think Creatively - Tony Schwartz - Harvard Business Review

Who Does Translation Matter To? Why Translation Matters by Edith Grossman

Who Does Translation Matter To? Why Translation Matters by Edith Grossman

Translators Without Borders — I believe by Lori Thicke

Translators Without Borders — I believe by Lori Thicke

Hope

Hope is about to leave
The Earth we live
"Why" should be the question
to ask, but instead,
people insist on denying
loudly screaming facts
The essence of hope
is not science with a wide scope
For we have used it
to make the killing
bigger and faster
than ever
Science should be a means
at the service of peace
Only then this shameless
Earth-slaughter
is ceased since, in fact,
Hope lives and finds its cosmic energy
in the spirits of a gorgeous woman
colored in blue, green and brown
After all,
We all expect
going earth to earth
and dust to dust
to complete the cycle
for our Mother Nature

Virtue

Some are born with luck
While others fighting for
Having it on their side
It seems to be unjust
Since power comes
With those green bucks
Yet, remember my friend
Life is a sucking bitch
She gives and takes wealth
To test your strength
For a virtuous man
Never changes a cent of decency
For a million dollar hypocrisy

An Immigrant in Spirit

I was sitting at my computer
Trying to do a task
Feeling bored
A familiar question crossed my mind
" Am I going to spend my life like this?
All I want is happiness."
Then I looked out of the window
Saw the blue sky
Sun rays coming down
Between white and greyish clouds
A green field
With running dogs and jumping birds
I closed my eyes
To travel without moving
Dreamed that
I reached the shore
Across the pond
Took a step on the New World
Felt the wind welcoming me
Heard the Ocean say
"Good luck. You suffered enough.
Be and make happy."
Saw the road wore
The red colors of dawn
Mighty mountains opened their arms
To let me go through
I finished my journey
When I saw him waiting
For me to come home
Held his hand
And kissed him gently

I opened my eyes
Still in London
Sighed and realized
My heart belongs in
The land I have never been to

Freedom

Once there was a girl
Living in a prison
Its walls were her fears
Absolute darkness
With blocking lies
One day she saw a light
Brought by sweet angels
They said to the girl
"Your heart is strong
Your soul is pure
Your love is real
Open up yourself
The truth is in there
Out there everywhere
It sets you free"
She closed her eyes
Took a step outside
It hurt for a while
Then felt the sky
With a beautiful shining star
Gazed down with tears
Caused realized
She was no prisoner
Of her fears

Rocky Mountains

A mountain standing tall
Like an ancient watching giant
In a desert
With burning sand
Stretching under iron-red rocks
A wooden cabin
Worn-out and abandoned
Giving me some cool shade

I visited that piece of land
In my dream
Felt everything
A bit weird indeed
But the weirdest thing is
I wanna go back there
In flesh and blood
As my spirit still wanders
In its rocky mountains
To find the lost piece
Of my heart

Absentee

Have you ever wondered
Why"the one" is "the one"
Is it a wise combination
Or a cultural perception
Maybe a general assumption
C'mon, give me a definition!
Here's my description
Not only by heart
But also at heart
He's the only person
Filling you with longing
His absence
Leaves absolute forlornness
As a homeless
For home means
Where your heart is

Baby

It's another empty night
Just shed some tears
All suppressed feelings
Reared their ugly heads
Maybe they are only real
Ugliness is only a defence
As we fear
That our past
 Would carry all that pain
Out into today
Then all of a sudden
All that effort
Put to build a new life
Would seem like nothing
Just another illusion
To keep ourselves going

Do you know what's the hardest part
I need you a lot
To tell about every single
Tiny little detail
Like I saw a couple
Kissing at the bus stop
Couldn't even look at them
For they reminded me of
How much I pine for you

Only God knows
Having no desire or urge
To have somebody
Cause cannot erase the feeling of
Betraying you
While everybody keeps telling me
"You live in a big city,
Lots of fish in the sea"
Stupid, miserable people say
Yet they don't know
How strong my love is
Even surprises myself
At times like this
Honorable indeed
As ain't no interests held
Pure and heavenly
As if it's our baby

Found in translation - The National

Found in translation - The National

Should Egypt pay to promote its authors abroad?

Should Egypt pay to promote its authors abroad?

the core of love

Love is not a pissing competition, in fact, not a competition at all. It's a unit of two separate individuals bonded with compassion for each other's weaknesses and trust in each other's strengths that make the two separate individuals one for better and for worse not just "till death do us apart", but as "meet you on the other side".

9/11

A decade has passed
Since that day
Of smoke, ash and dust
The dream of
Living together in peace
Was destroyed
Along with the towers
Of the land of dreams

The distance between peoples
Is not mighty oceans anymore
Anger, fear, suspicion
On top of prejudgements
Widened the gap
Made the distance
Impossible to end

Islam says peace
Christianity says love
What kind of peace and love
Brought humanity
Into this invisible war
Folks, put yourselves together
Don't let evil minds
Get you all taken apart
We all are flesh and blood
We all bled and cried
When the towers
Crashed down to ground
This is not only
Bald Eagle's war
Don't get yourselves fooled
The war is between
Humanity and evil
This is not between religions
By the way
I'm not even religious
Let our hands meet
Fight together
Shoulder to shoulder
Against the betrayers
Of good old
But never cold
The essence lying inside our hearts and minds
It's humanity, brothers sisters
If we sacrifice this very essence
For the sake of vengeance
Then the war
Will be lost
For without conscience
We'll be the same as
Those bloody demons

Jesus

Hey love
Last night
I saw you
In my dream
You said
"I'm depressed
I'm angry!"
Over and over again
Tried to come closer
Kissed and calm you down
Gave me a hard push
Shouted and drove away
Now I have words to say
Where the hell was your brain
While flirting with
The chicks with interests
You got what you gave
Anger is what you gain
Stop taking it out on me
Cause I'm done with
Bleeding out
It's time for
Enough is enough
Wanna be pissed
Don't forget to lift your fist
Punched me way too many times
Ain't no harm
You do this time
Remember your anger
Coming from
Your guys with evil
You were the one
Got yourself screwed
Now wanna nail me
In the hands
Oh please go ahead
At last
My love finds
A tad piece
At heart
Like the heart of
Jesus Christ

Anger

I called you "a beautiful mind"
Saw you as a man of soul
Deep, warm, and sensitive
In your spirit
Believed your words
Trusted your strength
Turned out I was wrong
The love of my life
Was only an illusion
Just like your stuff
Amazing on the screen
Yet in reality
Only a big nothing
Your delusions of grandeur
Unable to fill
This ever-going nothingness
For you have no conscience
Anger in you
Became my shadow
As the corpse of
A pathetic love

Thanksgiving

Feeling lonely again
Time to hit the roads
Leading towards
Wide green plains
And mighty mountains
Under the starry sky
Warm weather by day
Chill wind at night
That's the beauty of
Camping outside
I close my eyes
Listen to all sounds
Run away from my demons
A true gratitude
Toward God arises
For the love given me
Knowing my other half
Loves me secretly

Various blues

Once my heart was confused
Out of the blue
Got rid of my blue
My mind turned sky blue
Precious camaraderie
Won its battle over evil
For a true blue heart
Loves its companions
As the beautiful combinations
Of imperfections

Sometimes simplicity is the toughest part

Life is tough
When there is a quarrel inside
Heart says forgive
Mind says just leave
I wish there were only mind
How easy that would be
Living through thinking
Maybe it is the right way
No feeling any way
Cause what's the point of love
When you miss
But cannot say
Even these simple things

The Sun, the Sea and the Tears

A mild breeze coming from the sea
Feeling the fresh air
And the sun on my face
Dreaming the coldness of the waves
All over me
What a relief
For the wounds in my heart
After hearing death cold words
With their steel spear heads
Cutting through all my being
Leaving me with a hole
In my soul

killing an innocent love

Here we go again
Using words
As the doors
Of my deepest down
Ah there is a well
Down there
My will denies
Its existence
Cause it's not easy
To accept the reality
Ego wants to protect itself
Otherwise cannot survive
That well in my deepest down
Is a black box
Keeping every detail
Of a suffering soul
It once had a picture
With a bright sun
In a blue sky
A warming breeze
On green plains
Children are playing
Happy and running
Laughing and shouting
It was the picture of
Pure happiness
The black box
Was beaming outside
But the real world
Was not that shiny
The hands of darkness
Grabbed the box
Threw it into
The hell of prejudices
The innocent soul
Burnt amongst
The coldness of
Heartless, soulless, mindless
Army of letters
Damage has been done
Innocent love is gone
Killed by "the one"
The box down there
Is sealed
For there is no strength
 Left to move on
Now it's time 
To act like
Life is perfect
Complete my tasks
To be "the best"
Only one question
Is left to be asked
"Why God why
If we weren't meant to be
Why the hell did you
Put me in this loveless
Real hell of loneliness?"

the very first poem of my life time

Oh life, you are a sweet bitch,
The moment I think I've lost 
And I'm lost
Handing me a sparkle of joy
In a look from a deeper soul
With a safe cuddle
Feels like home
Then understand there's heaven
Not above the sky
But here
In a beautiful mind

learning how to rhyme takes some time

Our hungry souls
Trying to feed on poems,
Quotes,philosophies
Searching for peace and happiness
Amongst the mountain high
Ocean deep literature and science
Our minds are pushing us, saying
"Go forward, grab the essence of life"
Cresting the summit with pride
Giving a gaze down to the skirts
A small but shiny place
Lightened with the rays
From the brightest star
Smiles and says
"I am the heart of your soul mate
Waiting and hoping you to see me
It took a long time to look down
Yet it was the only way
For you to understand
That the happiness lies
In the knowledge of
How to rhyme with me"

An enviromentalist poem

Ashes to ashes
Dust to dust
I am glad
This is the way
We were popped out
Thinking about
A piece of peace
I can give to the Universe
When I turn into dust and ashes
The love in me
Becomes a part of
This whole universal energy
Although it is not accepted
During my lifetime
It is gonna feed the freedom
Of the oceans, land and air
Clean the filth of the world
Through love,hope and faith
Shaping my very core
I will have the chance
To salute the Creator
And pay my debt
For the gifts
I've been blessed with

a lesson from my life

The way we interpret things around us is what makes us a decent human being or an evil human being since this very subjective interpretation determines the way we treat people. Of course, this ourselves-specific way of interpretation does not appear out of nowhere. On the contrary, it strictly sticks with the codes of ethics each and every person has. Sadly, it is not an easy thing to stick with your codes all the time due to the fact that people are not fair and most of them do not treat you the way you deserve although you do every good thing you can for betterment.

Last summer was hell for me, not only because of very hot and moist weather, but also because of the deception and betrayal I experienced by the people once I really loved. There were self-interest oriented incredibly low and ugly lies around me. It took me some time to wake up, and then I needed to struggle with this so intensive anger inside. I was like Hulk, you know giant green man destroying everything before him when he gets really angry. I guess, that Hulk part is a genuine part of me, but most of the time it is under control. I did not know what to do for some time, you know why, because my principles told me not to lower myself and trust the way universe works, which is "God sees the truth, but he waits". Well, it was not easy to calm down, so I got drunk a lot. However, something miraculous happened, and I found a way to express my feelings: poems. Up to that point in my life, I had never ever thought that I could write poems. In fact, I had always described myself as "facts and figures woman". The events, the people got shaped in my mind as mental pictures, and then through words I depicted that mental picture on paper. That evil did me a favour and forced me to find a way out, my poems. I took my lesson: do not be so naive, protect yourself. And my award is the poems I am proud of. They are amateur kind of poems, but my creations.

If you interpret the following poem with the feelings you have when you experience deception and betrayal, I am sure you will find a piece of your life in it. Hope you like it.

What's the unique quality
Of human beings
Making us the kings of the world
Is it the mind
Or the soul
Or the conscience
I suppose all
Yet there is one thing
Last but not least
It is the heart brother, sister
The land of love and mercy
Anger, hatred are the harvest
Of bitter cold winter winds
Cracking the land
With betrayal and deception
But keep the faith mate
Sooner or later
The goodness in your heart
Finds a way out
For brighter days
As for the cracking cold winds
They only freeze their kings

the heart and the mind

Since Goleman's very popular book "Emotional Intelligence", the two separate domain "emotions" and "reason" have been considered as a whole, at the least there has been a tendency amongst some scholars. I would like to discuss the intertwined but unclear area of emotions and reason. In other words the heart and the mind. For centuries, emotional people were seen as weak, incapable of coping with difficulties, and needy for surviving. On the other hand, people with a rigid reason without any affection were valued as great minds of their time. Surely they did some contribution to their time in someways, however their rigid attitude caused unhappiness amongst soft hearted people with high power of understanding emotions. Just think about it for a minute: Do you think Galileo would have suffered that much if one of the Inquisition members had the ability to see his ambition for telling the truth and symphatised with him instead of being too rational blind and for the sake of being so-called consistent in the name of Church (or their own positions )? Galileo, Darwin and Freud had the courage to tell the world that they were wrong. To accept their standpoint took some time, but since "the truth is out there", there was no choice but see it. Humankind have lost hundred of years just because of this stubbornness for not seeing the truth, not listening to valuable minds filled with excitement, ambition, not forcing ourselves for a chance to change. And the irony is, stubbornness was and still is an emotional attitude while pure reason and rationality described with fixed rules blamed emotions for the weakness and troubles of humankind.

Let's think about our personal lives. How many times have we got stuck between our emotions and reason? In order to survive, we sacrifice the very core aim of living, which is happiness due to the fact that we think and are taught that listening, understanding, showing, thinking our emotions make us weak and unsuccessful. We live in a kind of matrix, you know the movie, outside impulses turn our brains on and we dream of appreciation, admiration, huge success, and then the illusion of fake happiness out of success fills even our tiny veins, then we set our target and go for it. How many of us have sacrificed our loves for careers, think about it. We have become so selfish that we do not want to move a finger for a true relationship. We want everything around our plans. "There is a cultural barrier between us, sorry, I want someone like me, also my family wants me to do so." At the least, be respectful, and tell the truth like "I do not love you enough, and I want everything suitable to me." Or, "You know, there are miles between us, and I want somebody next to me. I am a human, I need certain needs, plus travelling costs a lot." Again, the irony lies in the logic. In order to feel easy-happiness, we use the reason because evaluating our emotions make us realize that we live, in fact, in an illusion called "being pure rational".

Then, what's the solution? The answer might be a bit far, but we had better start with a baby step. Sparing some time for ourselves and doing some amateur introspection would be a good start. In other words, just travel without moving in our deepest inside where memories are kept and give direction to us invisibly. Reason is necessary but only after understanding our true emotions since understanding the true nature of something is the very first basic step of reasoning.