"Believe me when I say: 'Out of all those around, she's the best locksmith in town.' Her stethoscope ears know when the dials of your heart click into place.She's been cutting keys for years.You don't stand a chance with that flimsy case.Alas, no matter how you lock your heart- bolt, fixture, and key- she's got nimble fingersthat pick locks for free.Padlocks and deadboltsare all in vain.Why do you even botherwith that chain?She's way too smart. Along with ours, she'll have your heart. And you will see that the best locksmith in town is she."

"The lover drinksand the cup-bearer pours.The lover thinksbut the cup-bearer knows:love begets love.Since this wine is love,then this cup is love,then this tavern is love,then this life is love."

"A man's shortcoming lies in the belief that he must always assert his manliness. A woman's shortcoming lies in the belief that she must always repress it."

"As soon as we are born we hide God in ourselves.We then spend our lives looking for Himwhen all along, He has been concealed behind the veil of 'I'."

"Every book has to wait for the right time to be read and understood."

"I don't know why everyoneis still trying to find out whether heaven and hell exist.Why do we need more evidence?They exist here on this very Earth.Heaven is standing atop Mount Qasiounoverlooking the Damascene sightswith the wind carrying Qabbani'sdulcet words all around you.And hell is only four hours away in Aleppo where children's cries drown out the explosions of mortar bombsuntil they lose their voice,their families, and their limbs.Yes, hell certainly does existright now, at this moment,as I pen this poem. And all we're doingto extinguish this hellfireis sighing, shrugging, liking, and sharing.Tell me: what exactly does that makeus? Are we any better than the gatekeepers of hell?"

"Sadness is an invitation to God."

"Babies cry at birth because it is the first time they experience separation from love."

"Truth is unoriginal."

"Why is your skin the best feeling in the world?"

"Worry notif you are in darknessand the void sucks you in further.This is not the place we go to die.It's where we are bornand our stories begin."

"Maybe when we face a tragedy, someone, somewhere is preventing a bigger tragedy from happening."

"Love isn't blind. Maybe we are all born blind and love finally gives us sight."

"When I'm with you,I feel exposed.Naked. When I'm naked with you, I feel clothed.Sheltered."

"I will speak of love until you go mad and join me in my mad worship of love."

"God's existence is reaffirmed once we fall in with another."

"This body is the house of God."

"Of course, I am religious.I worship love."

"Don't you ever dare judge, for who among us can say that when the devil himself offered us a deal, we refused?"

"A negative outlook is dangerous. When you say, "It can't get any worse! You're essentially challenging the universe to do exactly that."

"Like the cotton-carder who combs tangled cotton into a long bundle of fibre, you take all my knotted fragments and comb them into light."

"I am certain, my love, that poetry was born only after your birth."

"Why didn't you write all this time?Did you not remember us in a song?A dance?In the skies littered with stars?Did you not get drunk?Why didn't you write all this time?Did you not remember us in a film?A book?In idyllic dusks and dawns?Did you not get high?It is good that you didn't.For all is well. I am drunk and dazed.I have already forgotten youand your bewitching ways."

"Wonderment shared is doubled.Love shared is infinite."

"We are all born as storytellers. Our inner voice tells the first story we ever hear."

"Enlightenment lacks any form of judgment."

"Life is a concept, like the "universe", that expands as soon as we reach what we think is its edge."

"In the beginning was love, and love was with God, and love was God."

"You have no choice. You must leave your ego on the doorstep before you enter love."

"The closest thing to perfection is imperfection."

"Stop looking forward to things, look inward instead."

"The thing about love is that you will never run out of it. It's an ever-flowing river. So go ahead and LOVE. What are you saving all this love for - death?"

"The only thing that comes close to defining me correctly is my love."

"In the very end, all we have left to atone for our faults are words."

"What can I tell you about the alchemy of twins?Twins are two bodies that dance to each other's joy.Two minds that drownin each other's despair.Two spirits that flywith each other's love.Twins are two separate beingsconjoined at the heart!"

"I spent all nightweaving a poem for you to wear. You look so beautifulwhen you wear my light."

"This is a day of celebration!Today, we are divorcing the pastand marrying the present.Dance,and you will find Godin every room.Today, we are divorcing resentmentand marrying forgiveness.Sing,and God will find you in every tune.Today, we are divorcing indifferenceand marrying love.Drink, and play that tambourine against your thighs.We have so much celebrating to do!"

"All this waiting.Waiting for the rain to stop. Waiting in traffic. Waiting for the bill. Waiting at the airport for an old friend.Waiting to depart. Then, there's the big waiting: waiting to grow up. Waiting for love. Waiting to show youryour parents that when you have kids you'll be different. Waiting to retire. Waiting for death. Why do we think waitingis the antithesis of lifewhen it is almostall of it?"

"We seek the fire of the spark that is already within us."

"It is not enough that you look for Him.You must hunt for God each and every dayas if your life depends on it.Because it does."

"Your love brought me closer to God."

"Because in truth, my love, if you have thought of me once then I have thought of you a thousand times. You have captured my heart. It is yours. I am at your mercy now."

"For me,you are fresh waterthat falls from treeswhen it has stopped raining. For me, you are cinnamon that lingers on the tongue and givesbitter wordssweetening.For me, you are the scent of violins and visionof valleys smiling.And still,for me, your loveliness never ends.It traverses the worldand finds its way back to me.Only me."

"Love without conditions, restrictions, or the expectation of being loved in return."

"Maybe stories choose how they are told and who tells them."

"Retrospect: the sweetener of life."

"If you want to find God, then all you need to do is love."

"We all have the ability to make someone's life better with our love."

"Your eyes are like heavy rain falling from pregnant clouds. With one glance, you washed awaythe poems I chalked on the groundand drowned all my beliefs.Now, I only scribble your name and believe in your truth. I know nothing but you."

"My love, you are driving the entire world mad. The nightingales are committing suicide one by one out of jealousy of your voice. The roses took one glance at your beauty and folded themselves from shame. The trees now only whisper your name and the sky hasn't stopped crying since you looked up. Have pity on us, my love. We have already broken all the mirrors and glass out of fear that you will forget us and fall in love with yourself once you see what we all cannot stop seeing."