Do not send me a video

cities are not streets and squares

I don’t want photo albums

who said that life is a catalogue?

don’t bother yourself straining for that 

panoramic shot 

the city’s photos are reflections in the water of a deep well

and I don’t want my city to fall into the well

my memory fogs

vanishes streets and gardens

and I don’t know

if they’ve only vanished in memory

or in the reality of the city?

I’ve forgotten half the things I knew

forgetting is a hole in the head’s ozone layer.

I no longer remember –  

is the library on the right or left of the square?

is the university on a river

or beside a lake?

Lend me your eyes

for a day

for an hour

for a minute

so Damascus will not vanish

from anybody’s head.