Welcome to our Festive Calendar, a special series of The Reader Podcast. Every day this December we will share with you a seasonal poem or a short extract from a novel or story, read by one of our staff or volunteer Reader Leaders.

Today's reading is an extract from the poem 'The Desire of Life' by Abu Al-Qassim Al-Shabbi, translated from the Arabic by Ali Al-Jamri. It's read by Megan Walder, who works for The Reader.

This poem is taken from the anthology Wonder: The Natural History Museum Poetry Book.

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Production by Chris Lynn. Music by Chris Lynn & Frank Johnson