What does the River Say?

(Translated by: Abdulwaḥid Lu’lu’a)


“To the friend who asked me one evening: What does the river say?"

What does the river say?
A tale.
It weaves it of moonlight dance.
It weaves it of gentle courting
With which the palm trees humour the slope
Of a lamplight that feeds the night
With warmth and excites the trees.
Of the fall of light moving beat
Opening the river chest at night.
******
What does the river say?
A song,
O, a daughter of long nights.
Once a lover sang its sorrow,
And the night was drunk, on a couple of beauty,
Laden with warmth, retaining still,
In its tunes a constant yearning.
The camel back submission, under the night,
The heavy foot step fall of the cameleers.
******
What does the river say?
An anthem,
From Babylon, elate with incense odour,
The monks’ procession, in a temple
That the Tigris and rocks hide secret.
Memoirs of the night, the sun,
The sun city, behind the ages,
Of Hammurabi and his love,
And what was covered by the treacherous book of Time.
******
What does the river say?
Do not ask.
Let the secret cover thick and deep.
If the Tulip uncovers its riddles,
There would be no sense of its gentle fragrance.


(27-7-1950) (Collected Works, II, 1971, pp. 306-309)