On loved ones we have lost or never met| There |

I will always be

hurt there

pain there

can’t describe there

sometimes there

is on my mind

when I imagine

that you may

have been there

too

pause

break

Une douleur imortalisee*

let there be

Sabar*

for me

for you

there.

Phrase and Proverb Glossary:

Une douleur immortalisee (a pain immortalised written in French), Sabar (the patience wished on those who are especially grieving the loss of a loved one)

Poem background:

This poem is for lost lovers, lost loved ones or those which have passed and whom we have never had a chance to meet. As with most of my poems, I use three possible Algerian mother tongues in English, French and Darija (modern Algerian Arabic dialect) to express my multidimensional hybridity and 3D trajectory. This particular one ends with a pairing of languages to complete a phrase and uses what Philosopher Catherine Chalier would describe as ‘the good word’; phrases and proverbs I carry with me from words spoken by my parents, cultural sayings, to help carry me through life with a notion of acceptance, hope and solace.

Image: People of the Casbah, Algiers, Algeria.