Map of Your Face

To never see your face again To lose the map of your body To misplace memory itself For example Today I lost your nose I couldn't remember which nostril Was bigger Last month it was your facial hair How it felt against my flesh I still hold on to your aftershave smile But the hair on your forearm is still vivid Brown red and black An earthly pallet Like ivy climbing up you arms You hated your bodily hair You shaved it every month I begged you to save it and love yourself I recall diving my face Unto your chest hair It got warmer The deeper I dove those lazy afternoons How the fog transcended us both I took naps on your stomach As the cats watched us Remember when you punched that guy And he tried to strangle you I clawed his face His wife pulled my hair That was our honey moon You called the police I called my mom And cried You visited me in the hospital With guilt dripping from your eyes Words flew like poisoned darts Others wanted us apart But we stuck Each carrying their cross Were we ever Heroes? Doubtful We were the fools Laughed at by the children we never birthed I wanted to say goodbye But I was too angry to realize That goodbyes are a formality When your soul suddenly dies We will never have Paris We hated it Instead, We will each cry In a separate house Until one day Not far My face becomes elusive Your face turn muddled What is left This emotional leftovers Is the essence of what once was ----- Manar Ammar Cairo, 2015