A love poem

looking deep into your eyes

I see the Tigris and the Euphrates

I ride an Arabian across the sands of Giza

and marvel at the many pyramids hidden by Cheops

at Petra I talk at length with a Bedouin

and he tells me all there is to know about lapis lazuli

and the Romanesque coliseum behind us

his horse is beautiful and his camel ornery

the color pink surrounds us

in the sand and in the sky

it is dusk and I am roaming the cafés of Cairo

suddenly I feel the tip of a knife blade at my stomach

and smell the essences

the rich red ruby sparkling on top of gold

I know still surrounds your finger

outside Amman I dance with Palestinians

and meet Queen Noor in Jerash

beggars in black hide their faces behind hijabs

revealing only their downcast eyes

would-be killers approach me in the lobby of the Shepherd Hotel

and a Benedictine monk asks me to escort him to the elevator

later an elderly archaeologist asks me to accompany her to the ruins

I do, recalling how your eyes penetrated my own

Philip Hackett