The Language of Love

What language can transcend these emotions? This space? There are
nine words in Arabic for love. But it is a language that you do not
understand. Hub. 'Ishq. Shaghaf. Hayam. Tayeh. Walah. Sababah. Hawa.
Gharam. They mean nothing to you. They look and sound awkward in this
clothing of English letters that do no suit them. They exude romance in
their natural oriental elegance. But it is an elegance unfamiliar to
you, that sways with the stroke of the pen.

In English, it is but Love. Nothing more. Nothing less. It does not
lilt with an air of longing the way that it should. It does not caress
the hot desert wind with a sense of Eastern mysticism. It does not sing
out a song of 'ghazal'.

But to say 'Bahebak' and have you understand the rhythm of the language
reflecting the rhythm of the emtion... To say 'Bahwak' and have you
understand the depth of each letter that is almost breathed rather than
spoken. To say 'Ba-shaqak' and have you understand the way my tongue
entwines around each letter as I pronounce it... This is something I
cannot have.

Because English is the language with which I speak. Write. Think. But
to feel. To love. It is with the words of a nation to which I do not
completely belong. I love in a language that I have not mastered fully.
In a moment of passion, my eyes looking into yours, the words that will
come forth from my lips will sound exotic... like the bedouin dance
that I will dance for you... But their meaning will evade you.

What language can transcend this passion? This space? So that I can
describe these emotions that collide with one another because you are
not here. Before me. To see the language of my eyes that tell the tales
of Sheherazade's A Thousand and One Nights... that speak a Thousand and
One Words... for you. Because that is the language that I know your
heart will hear.

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'Bahebak','Bahwak','Ba-shaqak' are all different ways of saying 'I love
you'.
'Ghazal' is a form of Classical Arabic Poetry