822 | 12 February 1983

Photo Germain Droogenbroodt

12 February 1983

His age,

a lot of wrinkles.

He wasn’t always like that;

he used to drink red wine;

once he felt guilty,

he wept and prayed,

until he saw God as a glow.

He recently went to the village,

he saw the oak tree withered,

the holy-water font was ash,

the priest grass,

and Allah far behind the mountains,

far, far away,

invisible.

FUAD RIFKA, SYRIA 1930-2011

Translation Fuad Rifka – Germain Droogenbroodt

From: ‘The Ruin of the Sufi’