Syria, 2011

Have you seen the Middle Eastern sun
gleaming through a curtained window,
slanting its rays upon a platter of kibbeh,
drawing arcs on a silk Shambar ahmar,
casting half-an-olive face to a nimbus,
bronzing a dribbling, gold nib,
sketching shadows on marginalia,
muffling voices to a lion’s nap
till rest has swelled a highwater?  

Maimoona Rahman is a second-year student at Qatar University who started writing to criticize Thomas More’s Utopia for romanticizing a world that oppresses public opinion and choices. One day she hopes to join the likes of Robespierre, Rousseau, and Montesquieu.