Another Planet

- Dunya Mikhail

 

Kareem James Abu-Zeid

I have a special ticket

to another planet

beyond this Earth.

A comfortable world, and beautiful:

a world without much smoke,

not too hot

and not too cold.

The creatures

are gentler there,

and the governments

have no secrets.

The police are nonexistent:

there are no problems

and no fights.

And the schools

don’t exhaust their students

with too much work

for history has yet to start

and there’s no geography

and no other languages.

And even better:

the war

has left its “r” behind

and turned into love,

so the weapons sleep

beneath the dust,

and the planes pass by

without shelling the cities,

and the boats

look like smiles

on the water.

All things

are peaceful

and kind

on the other planet

beyond this Earth.

But still I hesitate

to go alone.

 

from: The Iraqi Nights. Copyright 2013.