The best language of love

“You are killing me and you are keeping me from dying. That is love.”

I’m not the same person after reading this:

And if the devil was ever to see you, he’d kiss your eyes and repent.

That line has stuck with me. I can’t help but wonder what Farouq Jwaydeh felt while writing it. To me, it shows the highest level of adoration a man can have for a woman – such adoration that could transcend beyond the mundane and touch the divine.

I’ve always had a love affair with words. Writing has been my friend since forever, and poetry feels like home. Sometimes, I find myself lost, trying to figure out how poets can pour their hearts into words that are so beautiful and touching. It’s like they have a magic that makes feelings come alive

During college, I became familiar with literature, especially poetry. I’ve read many works by Western poets, but one night, I stumbled upon that opening line on Pinterest, and it changed everything for me.

If you think about it, what’s the correlation between someone’s eyes and the devil’s repentance? Does it even mean that the devil would repent just by seeing someone’s eyes? It seems impossible for such a cursed being to bow down.

I needed a moment to think before realizing it’s an expression of the profound love and reverence a man – Jwaydeh, in this context – holds for his beloved. He implies that even the most sinful of beings would reflect on their wrongdoings when gazing into the beautiful eyes of the one they adore. This shows how immense love can be. In simple terms, someone’s beauty or goodness can truly change the hearts of those around them.

Then there’s this other line:

They asked, “Do you love her to death?”

I said, “Speak of her over my grave and watch how she brings me to life.”

I don’t need to explain much about Mahmoud Darwish, do I? Besides his deep love for his homeland, I didn’t know he could string words together like that. When I read his work, it feels as if he’s reaching out and pulling me into a world where love is the only thing that exists.

This line is beautiful to me – at least on a personal level – because it hints at a love so strong that just hearing a word about the beloved can bring someone back to life. Sure, it doesn’t make sense in a practical way, but who cares about logic when it comes to love?

Death? Well, it happens.

But here’s the thing: love that pure can go beyond this temporary life. When two people truly love each other, that love can last forever. Even when life feels empty without that special someone, that deep love makes everything bearable. Just hearing their name feels like a rebirth, like new life rising from the ashes. Hearing anything about them makes it seem like we have another chance to live a little longer.

Tell me, what could be more beautiful than this?

I have a university degree, four books, and hundreds of articles, and yet I still mess up while reading. You wrote me “good morning,” and I read it as “I love you.”

I’ve run out of words. It’s true what they say: love can make someone foolish. It leaves me stumbling over my own thoughts like a child trying to walk for the first time. But I still can’t process how something with such simple intent can be expressed with such… something?

Or is it just me? I’ve longed to write something about poetry or expressions of love in Arabic, simply because I’m so in awe and enchanted by how they can be so simple yet give such a thrilling touch to my heart. I don’t even feel the love of those poets directly; I’m just reading. Yet, it’s as if I can feel their hearts beating through the pages.

Oh, and I almost forgot the most romantic one!

“You are the soul of my soul.”

I’d faint standing if someone said that to me. Can you imagine how those words could send shivers down my spine and ignite the flames in the depths of my being? Crazy.