Aziz Mountassir 

Poem original by Aziz Mountassir English version by Neide Romani 

Who Am I, the Lover?

Who am I, the lover?

A flame that teaches darkness

the forgotten language of light,

a river lost in time

searching for a sea

that has always lived within its depths.

I am the question the stars ask the dawn

before surrendering to brightness—

a wound that blossoms into a rose,

a silence learning

how to become a song.

I do not love to possess,

but to become.

Every heart I touch

opens a new horizon

within my soul.

And when I ask: who am I?

the answer comes from behind the mirrors of existence:

you are not the walker of the path,

nor the path itself,

but a journey

that will end at a point within being.

Who am I, the lover?

A passing shadow of light,

borrowing its pulse from time before it fades,

a cloud aware that rain is temporary,

yet still offering its heart to the earth.

I love because finitude awaits me,

because the most beautiful rose

is the one that knows its moment of fading.

I am a traveler between two moments:

a birth that opens the door,

and a departure that closes it gently.

I do not seek a false eternity—

rivers reach the sea and lose their names,

stars shine briefly

before silence swallows them whole.

And when I ask existence:

who am I, the lover?

wisdom answers from its deepest core:

you are a spark in the night of the cosmos,

brief in time…

yet as long as you burn,

you give darkness its meaning of light.

We are not an endless journey,

but a short passage between two unknowns,

and what makes it eternal

is not its length—

but the depth of love

with which we cross it.