Saturday, November 2, 2013

الدّرس الأول


لم تكن تلك قصتنا

كان حبنا أكبر من السماء

و ابتساماتنا كانت أكثر إشراقاً من الشمس

وعينانا...

عينانا كانتا مليئتان بأمواج من الشوق

في البداية, وجد حبنا دون إدراكنا

وعندما لمسناه قررنا أن نتمسك بنعومته

كنا مراهقين, و رأينا الحياة وردية

كنا أحمقين و ساذجين

صدقنا أنّ قوة الحب أكبر من أي ألم

بعد تحطم قلبانا فقط...

أدركنا أن الحب يموت!

أن قوة اللألم أكبر من الحب أحياناً

أنه مامن حبيب يستحق ذاك الألم

أدركنا سذاجتنا و تعلّمنا الدرس الأول في الحب

و ربما في الحياة أيضاً

تعلّمنا أن الحب يموت!

 

سلمى طالب

Salma Taleb

Monday, August 12, 2013

The search for Identity

Who are we? And how long would it take us to answer this question?
In life we all live in multiple bubbles, social, emotional, religious, political, physical, comfort, and most dangerously Mental Bubbles. We seem to accept that those bubbles are who we are, but is that true?  Did we create those bubbles or somehow they surrounded us?
I think that the way to really know who we are is to simply live. By that I mean we need to challenge ourselves all the time. We need to break out of our comfort zones and experience what we might not like, what we might hate in order to really know what we like; to realize our own strength, abilities and true self. 
Those bubbles work as barriers between us and life. Once we break out of them, we can live life and get closer to who we are. The closer we are to ourselves and the more we know who we are, the stronger we get, and the more we believe in our abilities. Knowing ourselves gives us the inner stability to continue our life journeys, and to have a clear vision of what is our journey.  
Breaking out of those bubbles is not easy; rather, it could be overwhelming and draining. We might not like what we experience and we might prefer to go back to our comfort zone. However, simply trying to do that gives us more strength and more insight towards who we are.
The important question is how much are we trying to know who we are? And if we don’t know who we are does that mean that we are a live, dead or maybe lost?
 
Salma Taleb
سلمى طالب
August 07,2013

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Love between literature and reality

 
 
In literature, love is idealized. It is the pure emotion that could be so deep to the degree where people die for it. It is the everlasting emotion that never changes, never dies and keeps on shining. However, in reality, Love is just another emotion. It could change its form, get stronger, weaker, yet it never disappears. There are always parts of us with those who we love regardless of time, space or communication. Love is not affected by any of this; rather, it is affected by our perception of ourselves and the other person.
In literature, lovers are always either united or separated and live in misery for the rest of their lives. Yet, in reality people rarely die of love, and instead they could simply keep on going regardless of the deeply carried pain.
A very important thing people seem to miss about love is that it is just like anything in life, it is work!  Love is not just an emotion we feel. It is a decision we make to either work to achieve it and keep it, or to give up and suffer in silence. This decision is probably one of the hardest decisions we make because it will change our lives either way.
Love is communication, giving, receiving, sacrificing and most importantly, it is out of our control. We don’t choose who to love or not, when to start, to end nor where. It simply happens.
When we truly love someone we would do whatever it takes to be with that person. Only if we really want to. Love might fall apart, yet lovers could always find a way to rebuild it and reunite if they put genuine effort, time and care to it. To gain your love back, you have to try and keep on trying. You need to work hard, just like in anything else in life.
Since love is communication, misunderstandings are a fact and a reality, yet with enough care and determination and with enough sincerity everything is solvable.
Love is not just about your life with a person, it is about your life without that person. We could all live alone, yet deep inside we know that our life was brighter, happier and better with that person regardless of time. Lovers could be separated for years, yet once they meet, their love re flourish again.
When we are happier with a person, then we MUST try our best to be with that person. Otherwise, we will regret it later when we are very old and not with him/her. That however, is a decision that only those who are honest with themselves could take. Only those could gain their love and happiness back. Unfortunately, humans by nature try to run away from their emotions and assume that they would disappear somehow. They never do and we will have to face them sooner or later.
 
Salma Taleb
سلمى طالب
 
 

Shame

In my country, the sea runs away from children
For there is no space left in his depth for the echo of their pain.
12/31/2012
 
Salma Taleb
سلمى طالب

Void

You sit on top of your ruins, you stare at your pieces, and you cry.
Yes, you failed, and yes you’ve let go of the past… and now what?
Pain and misery, and you wonder what to do?
And nothing is important when you are alone!
 
02/04/2012
Salma Taleb

سلمى طالب

Saturday, April 13, 2013

A narrative


A child of the sun, searching for a home

Dreaming of wings and freedom yet to be owned

Hoping for peace and justice in a world

Where the powerful is a live and the weak is daunted


A rebel with weapons of words

A dreamer with limits of light

A fighter with the power of truth

A lover with the innocence of a child


Fragile? sometimes, yet like a wolf from the outside.

Present, yet haunted by the past.

Smiles when her heart is torn a part

A lone, yet not lonely

And for her, life might be a journey

A journey which we have no power to start,

Yet it is in our hands when to stop.
 
Salma Taleb
سلمى طالب


Thursday, April 11, 2013

Life, is a struggle

In life, sometimes we express ourselves verbally, sometimes we write to heal. However, sometimes we stop! We stop because words don’t matter anymore, because they are void if they are not proven with action.
Writing is a remedy that helps the writer to slowly heal. Sometimes there is no remedy; there is no cure. Sometimes we chose not to communicate, not to write and rather we silently walk away because the amount of the pain and the abuse we have been through make us speechless. Make us realize how weak words are and how strong we are to stand still and carry on.
The problem with pain is that we might move away and get busy, yet all the memories are still haunting us like an evil spirit making us sick.
The strength is in fighting this evil spirit and in keep looking for the light of hope to guide us in our journey. The real challenge is when we stop caring about the journey and quit believing in the hidden purpose of our existence.
 
Salma Taleb
سلمى طالب

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Secrets


Only the Dew drops know the secrets of Jasmine.

Only the ears of regret could hear the moaning of the pain.

Only the leaves of the trees could understand the whispering of the wind.

Only the arid soil could appreciate the tears of the clouds.

Only our heart beats could feel the nostalgia of our memories.

 

Salma Taleb
سلمى طالب
 

 


False Hope

He promised to build a home from Jasmine to her.
He promised her with happiness and a precious love, but he broke her heart in the first moment she surrendered to his words.
Salma Taleb
سلمى طالب
12/27/2010
 
 

Voyage


And so I decided to leave,

I gathered my memories and carried them in my exhausted heart, and left.

After I woke up from the dream, I realized that nothing really matters.

Salma Taleb
سلمى طالب

12/28/2010 

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Eclipse

From behind the curtains
He sneaks into my room,
Checking if I was fine;
He saw a sad smile on a dark face,
And so he realized I was not!
Deep into my soul, he spread his
Soft, gentle, and pure light.
Light is a strange feeling,
Especially in the soul; we can never escape it.
Pushed the clouds away from me,
And saw the naked truth hiding
In the sparkles of my tears.
Salma Taleb
سلمى طالب

The End

Standing on the edge of the cleft
Straying at the dark horizon  
Fragile, deep in the soul,
And like a wolf from the outside.
I breathe you, but the air won’t come in.
My heart is at peace.
My eyes are calm.
I open my hands and
The northern wind pushes me in;
I smile with peace,
And my hair flies with the wind.
 
Salma Taleb