In this place, figs were cracking under the blazing sun,
giving the philosopher's visions a taste of contemplation and wisdom.
In this place and on the amphitheater of the school,
the philosopher was grabbing the ear of his wretched student, little Alexander,
and teaching him slowly the difficult paths of life and ways to understand them!
The disciple listened to him with great depth and intelligence,
and he did not let anything miss his little ears.
In this place the walnuts fell in abundance,
the squirrels rolled them into their mouths
as the philosopher rolled fresh ideas into existence.
In this place, the great philosopher was getting old
and the logic of philosophy was growing and expanding.
The little disciple, was growing up
and the gluttony in his terrifying imagination grew stronger.
In this place, trees, birds, river and a cave
learned the skills of philosophy from the great philosopher.
In this place, the philosopher disappeared one day
while the disciple set out on his horse,
a very valiant warrior, striking the face of the earth
with his sword in length and breadth
until everybody called him Alexander the Great.
In this place,
Figs are still cracking...
The squirrels still roll the walnuts as before,
but without a master or a student.
In this place, the fragrance of wisdom, philosophy, meditation
and knowledge still oozes from the mouth of the cave
and the stone amphitheater of the school,
which is now thickly covered with weeds!
In this place, I thought myself retired for a long time,
learning the "Art of Poetry" from the great master
as I had never learned it before,
and paraphrasing the poem of my existence
and my world again!
(Naoussa, Greece 2022)
The wonderful villains of Medellín
To Fernando Rendón
The wonderful villains of Medellín dance tango and salsa until dawn
They defeat sadness and poverty with fun and singing
They shine with passion, madness and love...
And they cheer proudly:
"Man does not live by bread alone."
Hail to them, the wonderful villains of Medellín
Hail to their light that shines from the corners of bars
Hail to their wine aged in jars and jugs
Hail to their warmth and their green heartbeats.
Hail to their grass and their cigarettes, refreshing as the breath of beautiful women!
Hail, hail to them...
The wonderful villains of Medellín
Worthy of poetry
Listening intently to the souls of poets
Devouring the heart of poems
Alive
Raw
Fresh as morning fruit
And keeping the evils of the world away from the beauty of life.
(Medellín, Colombia 2009)
Jönköping
If I could, I would fashion a necklace of love from the hearts of poets
and place it around the neck of beautiful Jönköping.
If I could, I would cast my eyes like two fish into Lake Vättern,
so, they would gaze longingly upon the beauty of Jönköping forever.
If I could, I would take a piece of Jönköping's peaceful land
and place it like a bandage on Afrin's ever-bleeding wound.
If I could, I would take five olive trees
and plant them in front of my friend Victor Rojas’s house in the forest,
the house he built for poetry and poets.
If I could change the name of Jönköping,
I would undoubtedly make it a three-part name,
like this: "Jönköping-Love-Beauty".
If I could, I would become a sailor and name
all ships and boats only after Jönköping, and no other city's name.
If I could, I would build an airport in Jönköping
where angels would fly to and from on wings of love and longing.
But now let me raise a toast to this wonderful city and to its fine, noble people:
A toast to Annette
A toast to Eva
A toast to Victor
A toast to Giovanni
A toast to Mani
And a toast to Tawfiq...
And I send my heartfelt greetings to all who believe in poetry and beauty, whether here or there.
(Jönköping, Sweden 2021)
Author’s Bionote:
* Hussein Habasch is a poet from Afrin, Kurdistan (born in 1970). His poems have been translated into English, German, Spanish, French, Persian, Uzbek, Albanian, Russian, Romanian, Italian, Serbian, Macedonian, Bulgarian, Polish, Slovenian, Lithuanian, Vietnamese, Nepali, Hindi, Malayalam, Kannada, Tajik, Bengali, Turkish, Berber (Amazigh), Bosnian, Portuguese, Hungarian, Chinese, Greek, Mandarin (the language of Taiwan) and Tzotzil (the language of the Mayan peoples of Mexico), Dutch. His poetry has been published in more than 200 International Poetry Anthologies and he has participated in many International Poetry Festivals including Colombia, Nicaragua, France, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Germany, Romania, Lithuania, Morocco, Ecuador, El Salvador, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Costa Rica, Slovenia, China, Taiwan, Cuba, Sweden, New York City, Sarajevo, Greece, Albania, Cyprus, Uruguay, India, Rockport (USA), Indonesia, Italy, Poland and Serbia. He has won several awards: The International Best Poet Prize 2016 awarded in China by the International Poetry Translation and Research Centre, the Journal of the World Poets Quarterly (Multilingual) and the Editorial Board of the Chinese Poetry International, the Great Kurdish Poet Hamid Bedirkhan Award, awarded by the General Union of Kurdish Writers and Journalists (2022), the International “Bosnian Stećak” Award for Poetry, awarded by the Bosnia and Herzegovina Writers Union (2022), the Bangladesh Kathak International Literary Prize, awarded at the World Thinkers’ and Writers’ Peace Meet in Calcutta, India (2024), he has also been rewarded with a honorific price at the Safi International Poetry Forum in Morocco (2024), he was invited as a featured international poet to read at Walt Whitman's birthplace in Huntington, New York, for the "Walking with Whitman" program (2025) and a special award and honor from the AFRIN Fine Arts Festival 2025.