You are my destiny  

I took a folded paper out of my pocket, opened it and gave it to her.

- "What is that?"

- "A poem".

- "Written in Arabic?"

- "Yes"

- "What it is talking about? »

- "This is the answer to your question".

- "What question?"

"Would I love you if you weren't beautiful?"

Her face showed signs of joy and curiosity. She said, "Translate what you wrote to me".

I took a second paper out of my pocket and said, "Translating poetry is difficult, and this is the first time I have tried to translate it”.

The poem begins with the following verses,

«My love,

They are both the same to me whether you are the most beautiful woman or the ugliest and deformed one.

I do not mind whether you are superiorly intelligent or you are a stupid doll.

Love, my captivating one, is a fatality and a destiny from heaven. You are my destiny and destiny is inevitable.

 Love therefore makes you the most beautiful of women and the wisest”.

Janine read the first stanza of the poem and she went on to the second stanza:

«My love,

They are both the same to me if you are sincere in love without lies and hypocrisy or you are a true chameleon.

I do not care whether you are chaste and virgin or deflowered woman who commits shameless sins.

Love therefore makes you the most honest of women and the most virtuous".

She read the rest of the poem and seemed surprised. She commented: "How tender your poem is! How sweet it is, you are a poet, a sensitive artist".

Her prose was much more wonderful than my poem and the sweetest word a man can hear is the praise of a beautiful woman. I asked her, "Did I answer your question?"

She replied coquettishly, "Your answer is eloquent but not convincing". She added, "The important thing is that I am happy". She made a sign to the poem written in Arabic, commenting: "I have known this writing since my childhood. I was 12 years old when my family welcomed a Syrian student in Besancon and he gave me a book on Sinbad in storytelling of a thousand and one nights written in Arabic and French. I looked at the opposite side of the French pages as if it were an enigma. This mysterious language, which resembles ornaments how can I decipher it? I read the book in French several times and I always keep it".

 Then she looked at me saying, "Help me learn Arabic in the future".

 - "I promise you". We agreed to meet next Thursday at the same time and so we started our exciting love affair.

Abdellah Khammar

The first trimester: Innocent or guilty 1

An extract taken from the novel: Entry bell to class