My Work - Poetry

The Hypnotic Box

The one-eyed snake glares at me.
Its eye emits hypnotic rays.
I freeze!
All my being is anaesthetized.
I do not sense the passage of time
Whilst in front of me is the snake's eye—
One eye, not two.
* * * * *
The eye of the snake commands me
To immerse my head into the coloured box
To plant my head among the teeth.
I obey meekly
They bite it
They chew it
The jaws swallow my head!
Out of my neck grows a new head
Full of the poisons of the snake.
* * * * *
With a hiss that eclipses all voices
The fierce snake orders me
To immerse in the box the heads of my children
And the heads of all visitors.
Everyone in the house obeys
And time stands still.
* * * * *
This accursed beautiful box
This box of colours
Glares at me from every direction
It multiplies like mushrooms and spreads like cancer
And marshalls its offspring against me.
* * * * *
They say that the devil has two horns
And in front of me two thin horns shine.
Is this the devil himself?
* * * * *
This box swallows the heads of all people
I wish that all weapons of the world
Could be combined into one mighty axe
To smite this box on the eye,
On the horns,
On the head!

Dubai, 1982