Poetry by Laala Kashef Alghata

SubtleTea.com has a new look

Poetry by Laala Kashef Alghata

Laala is a seventeen-year-old editor of Write Me a Metaphor, author of Behind the Mask: A Folded Heart (2006), and a poet-in-residence in both Soul to Soul and ArgoBoat. Her debut novel made her the first Bahraini to publish a book directly in English. She lives in Bahrain.

Undying

the great advantage to being alive
(instead of undying)is not so much
that mind no more can disprove than prove
what heart may feel and soul may touch
--the great(my darling)happens to be
that love are in we, that love are in we
~ e. e. cummings

We are not undead, we are alive
like the wind, like the sky,
we are not the shriveled grey
of bean stalks as they inch
towards death, we are fire.

Our skin is softer than petals
no matter how harsh it feels,
it is thin and durable, easily
sliced, but think--

I am alive. I am not undead.

The great advantage to being alive
is feeling alive, and the happiness
that comes with. Like melted
chocolate licking your mouth,
like warm blankets and a book.

And cummings got it right, the great
advantage to not being undead, is that
love can we, love can we.

All work is property of Laala Kashef Alghata.

[back to top] [home]