Today I mark a point in spacetime.
14 February 2026 — Rebirth in Bamberg.
Not the erasure of what came before, but the moment when the lines of my life — names, people, memories, detours, and love — converged briefly at a single focal point before continuing outward again into the beautiful unknown.
Continue reading “Geometry of Rebirth”
Originally written in Arabic in December 2007 and preserved from my personal diary.
This English version is an adaptation created with the help of AI.
The poem was written long ago for someone I loved and hurt.
Over the years its meaning has grown wider — it now speaks to all the people I have loved, wounded, or lost along the way.
It remains, above all, an apology and a reminder that love can survive even where relationships cannot.
To you I apologize
for my madness and my vanity,
for all my seas and wandering far,
for every reckless storm I was.
February 14, 2026 – One girl named Lux was born to Fatima (aka HOB)
Password protection lifted.
HOF — Finally, a new day.
After months of daily inner work, something settled. Not numbness. Not forgetting. Just a calm I hadn’t known before — a neutral plateau where feeling no longer meant falling. For the first time, I could think of you, love you, miss you, without being wounded by distance or silence.
Continue reading “Notes from a Forged Damascene Heart”
This is a personal blog written from experience and metaphor, not doctrine or authority. It reflects how the world looks to me right now, not how it should look to others. Reading it is a choice, as is interpretation.
Image by Jakob Linser
I have many names.
Abdo, after my grandfather.
Abu Saleem (bin Fatima), bin Zeynep — after my parents and my guardian aunt.
Muhammad.
Iskandar (Alexander) — the name I sign with.
Roumani (Roman) — my family name.
Rou — a name given to me by Kholoud.
Mani — a name given by Manar.
Manilein — a name given by my mother-in-law.
Hob (love), as Sarah has called me for the past ten years.
But truly, I am Damascus in bits — and I’m writing this Letter to Vienna.
I was born in October 1987.
My legal birthday, on my passport, is January 1, 1988.
Adapted from my 2009 diary, originally written as a letter in Arabic to the woman who deeply shaped my life journey. The text was revised and translated into English in December 2025. The original Arabic version is included below.
Eastern Ghouta –
There is no escape from leaving—
this love has thrown us down
into the deep, uncharted unknown.
From you, I’ve worn my hoping thin;
from your impossible love,
I am undone.
Roumani Line 