Synopsis
In this collection, Nouri Al-Jarrah constructs a grand poem dedicated to Damascus, a city both real and symbolic, a place of origin, loss, and memory. The Syrian capital becomes "the heartbeat" and the last image the gaze clings to, suspended between sea and desert, between past and future. Through intense writing, marked by a constant tension and an expressive use of language and punctuation, the poet transforms the young men of Damascus into epic and tragic figures, fragile heroes in search of the lost names of their city and the lives buried beneath them. The Syrian tragedy runs through the entire book without ever being reduced to chronicle: pain does not interrupt the poetic flow but passes through it like an underground current. The dialogue with Mediterranean myths and the literary tradition, from Cavafy to classical Arabic poetry, opens the present to a circular dimension in which history, memory, and symbol intertwine.
