A Dialogue with the Moon King
— What are these sounds?
Are they the murmurs of an exiled planet,
Beyond the borders of the hidden world?
Or are they gasps?
— The beating of drums…
— Who are you? Tell me, stranger?
— A king…
— What do you say?
Ah, king of shadow and flame,
From what spring do you drink?
From where do you feed?
And what people do you rule?
I wandered all day among the ruins,
I found nothing but a mirage twisting
Among virgin dunes,
Upon which the towers and stars lay bare.
—I have neither drink nor food,
Not even servants,
And know, my friend,
Before you depart,
That we worship man…
—And do you love the earth?
— It is my eternal sky…
Ah, from your sky filled with hatred…
There, O King of Unity and Purity,
The laws of the forests prevail.
Come with me, visit it and you will see,
That the Ten Commandments are scattered!
- Whatever the matter may be,
Whatever the matter may be,
The virtues of knowledge in your land
Erase the sins of disbelief…
**
You are the moon and the stars
-1-
Your lips are two pearls
From the sea of vanishing
And your slender figure
Is a garment of virtue
Uttered by a robe of fine cloth
I once longed to attain it
But a tremor seized me.
-2-
O woman...
O my pure, beautiful dream,
Be gentle with me.
For my drink is sweet to the taste,
And it is enough for you to sip.
I have tasted rejection from you
Until it seems I have come to fear love,
Despite my skill.
So, I withdraw, complaining...
And my longing pulls me...
My yearning pulls me.
-3-
Years have passed of my life
Years like the blazing embers
Sometimes like hatred...
Sometimes like oppression
I know not my state...
I know not.
Am I alive...
Am I dead...
And I ask myself: What will become
If the darkness of the nights
Intensifies one day
Will the pearly stars mock them?
Will the radiant moon of the sky depart?
**
Orphan
Increase my passion, increase it
And stir, like a torrent,
The rock of my stillness
And remove the garment
That once trembled from my eyes,
For I have been cured of the coldness
And know that I was raised without a mother
And I yearn for the wine of breasts
I lived as an orphan
O daughter of the hills
I never laid my head upon the flesh of arms
I desire warmth in a long night
I hated living alone in the wilderness
My companion the night
With its bitter cold
My companion is the lightning
With the crashing thunder
I exerted myself searching for a girl
And you were the one my efforts met
After the sighs
And the pure tears
Now I feel
What is the taste of existence!
**
Return me to myself
-1-
I searched for you in my books...
I searched for you in my travels,
In my weariness
And I was like one who lost his life
In the eyes of a weeping soul.
I call to you,
I whisper to you,
Like a phantom without lineage.
-2-
I called out your name,
Which is born in my literature,
My echo reverberated through the universe,
And trampled most of the clouds.
So have mercy on me,
Return me to myself,
And do not be angered by my wrath,
If one day we complain,
And search for the reason,
For life holds no sweetness for us,
And in our depths
A star of sorrows has not been set.
The Beirut Telegraph, Issue 8289, October 19, 1970
**
The Sea of the little eyes
-1-
I weep,
And call out: Return to me
For the winds of despair blow upon me
And like a leaf of a tall willow
I sway, I tremble,
I twist...
I draw ever nearer to death.
-2-
Tears fall from my eyes
Drowning me...
Burying my remains
Throwing me into the depths of the water
And the boat deliberately crashes
Against the rocks of great sighs
And the smaller seas of the eyes
Receive all kinds of storms!
Beirut Telegraph, Issue 8084, February 16, 1970
**
I Sing
-1-
I took up my lute...
And began to hum a song
About my love,
Then the birds fluttered
And sang,
And the meadow cried out a million sighs...
-2-
I sing, I sing, to a fertile meadow,
And its eyes rejoiced until tears flowed,
And it kept calling out and pleading:
Give me more poignant songs,
And give me more prayers...
Sabah El-kheir, Beirut newspaper, Issue 185, March 11, 1970
**
I am not a phantom
-1-
Come...
Come...
For the stars have told the story of my love
To the silence of the nights
To the sorrow of the nights
And you are a mirage
That passes through my mind
And vanishes in my mind...
-2-
You were so cruel to me
You made life groan...
Die...
And be buried in my eyes
Your cruelty...
Oh, if only I had never been anything!
-3-
My tears flowed despite the drought,
And they ran, tracing a wondrous path,
And proving that I have become a stranger,
And that I am a cloud passing through summer,
And raining down sorrowful tears of love.
-4-
I did not long for the long nights,
I am not a phantom,
Desired to vanish,
I am the poet of love,
And passion,
And beauty,
I live for beauty,
And I perish in beauty.
Come...
For my voice has grown hoarse,
And the shouting has grown weary.
Come,
And I have spent the night
I long for the whisper of supplication,
murmured each morning:
Come.
**
She laughs joyfully
-1-
She laughs joyfully,
And her pearly lips smile
In delightful merriment
You would think, in her presence,
That spring itself lives in her mouth!
-2-
And then eyes fly to her,
Alighting on her cheeks,
And kissing the hair of the nights,
Of which it was said:
It is smelled, not embraced.
-3-
Then hearts call out in silence: Come...
And bleed a pulse that deafens chests,
And sows within them the dreadful clamour,
...And she laughs,
She laughs,
So, you think that the chests are saying:
Let the little one remain...
May deafness remains!
**
My God is new to you
-1-
My pen,
Stop, my pen!
For the story of my life ended long ago.
And I fed it to the mirage.
And I wrote it down in lines,
Erased by the fingers of a wretched time.
-2-
And I no longer remember anything of it
Except two sentences:
I was born...
But I died before coming.
And like me, everyone dies!
-3-
Be careful and stop...
And don't touch the white notebook
For every page in it is sad
And every line has withered
And the bitter cold has shrunk them
And the frost has eaten away at them.
-4-
I came as a phantom...
And no eye saw me,
Or existence itself noticed my presence.
I departed like the clouds and birds
Migrating...
Departing towards the distant...
-5-
I pitched my tents...
And lived alone
Just me and contemplation in the depths
Of a deep valley
I whisper...
And worship a deaf lord
Whose tongue is tied
And whose eyes are a dry garden
My God is new to you
Do you not love all that is new?
Beirut Telegraph Newspaper, Issue 8230, August 10, 1970
**
My Life: The Echo of Misery
-1-
My life...
Like a deep wound
Invaded by blood
And within it,
The whispers of tragedy are lost...
My life:
Is it not the echo of misery's lament?
-2-
I fly...
Like a dove's chick
That saw the sky low and soared...
And rejoiced
Until the magic of the sky vanished from its sight.
-3-
I ate bliss...
But when I was full,
I felt almost empty.
I drank happiness one day,
And I felt I had drunk air.
-4-
I drew palaces of hope,
I built domes and fortresses for them,
And I adorned them with emeralds,
With stars,
With the mercurial moon.
But when I awoke,
I was terrified...
When I saw the palaces had vanished
And become dust.
-5-
I was cast out for my poverty,
I was stoned,
I was stabbed repeatedly,
And I did not complain...
But I said in profound silence:
Is this, my God, what Heaven desires?
**
Tomorrow, I will leave
-1-
I abandoned you?!
How could I abandon spring?
I, the bird,
The singer of love poems that have faded?
-2-
I folded the years,
I killed the greatest hopes,
To escape from you...
Impossible...
For I cannot bear the boredom.
-3-
You say to me in the morning:
Do you love me?
"I love you more,
For my thoughts carry you and fly,
Fly towards eternity."
-4-
And when evening comes,
And the sea swallows the sun of the day,
You say to me,
Your hands playfully pinching my lips:
Do you love me?!
"I love you more,
My desire and my hope."
-5-
.. And the years pass,
And depart.
Carrying a thousand "Do you love me?
I love you more."
And on a night untouched by stars
I wrote on the book of memories:
"Tomorrow,
I will depart."
**
Me and Sorrow
-1-
Me and sorrow
We are companions
We spent our lives
In joy
I made sorrow
Not weep
I made it rejoice like me
I wove happiness when
My field wept
For the jasmine
And the grass said in anger:
Won't you grieve with the field
And you are the branch
And the leaves
You are the flower for the bees?
-2-
So, I said:
Life is but hours
that pass,
that hasten,
that flow
Shall I spend them in bitter, painful weeping...
...bitter,
So, know
that life in the universe
Is ended by the flames of oppression
**
Masters of the centuries
-1-
I want you to be a rose,
A light fluttering upon the windows of eyes,
Or a breeze that revives the ailing heart.
-2-
I want you to be a whiff of perfume,
And dreams that caress me through the years,
Or a peace that spreads the dawn,
And banishes the impossible.
-3-
I want you to be a homeland...
We yearn for it,
And the night drowns in longing
Or an angel
Fluttering like a bird in a beautiful robe.
-4-
No... You will never be
But a vein in my veins
So that we may remain
The sole point of connection
Between night and sunrise
We, even if centuries pass
We will be the masters of the centuries.
Beirut Telegraph, Issue 8289, October 19, 1970
**
Dust of Sorrow
-1-
I am a stranger...
In the land of loved ones,
I walk,
And I run after loss,
I weave a star like the Magi's star,
Shining,
To guide me to the manger of my love.
-2-
Who am I?
Who am I?
For my silence is terrifying,
My life is bleak,
And the dust of sorrow eats away at my sandals,
And my socks, clinging in fear,
To the hems of my garment.
-3-
Who am I?
Did I come as dust with the wind
On a night of hateful winter
And it enveloped me
A fierce cold
That stole my mind...
So, I went searching through the fog
And calling out:
O son of dust
Wait...
For in your vast bosom
Are the fragments of my heart.
-4-
...And my cry was lost
The only companion I had
For when I grew weary,
I sang to myself,
To my own ears,
To the desolation of my path.
Beirut, Sabah El khair magazine, Issue 170, November 17, 1969
**
The Secret of the News
I was asked a thousand times about my secret
I kept it hidden from all of humanity
No... don't call it selfishness
Say: She loved cautiously
And didn't reveal the name of the one
Who wove the morning
And the moon
A silken shawl
A shawl the colour of flowers
And embroidered it with a small star
And adorned it with the shining moon
Then... Oh, the joy of the stream
He gifted it to me,
Die, oh coquettishness of velvet
I became one with it,
A phantom for a nymph.
Beirut Telegraph, Issue 8289, October 19, 1970
**
Compassionate Conscience
-1-
Take and go away...
I will slap you...
If you come near again,
Like a slave...
Seeking a morsel from me.
-2-
And I went away,
Hastening my steps to the embrace of alleys
And corners,
Cursing the day, I was born
And I stretched out my hands to the people
So that the weight of death
Might be lifted from me.
-3-
And I withdrew, like a dark, gloomy night,
Planting eyes with staring and fear,
And I walked bare-handed,
Bound by my own hands,
Above my hopes and thoughts...
And my assumptions.
-4-
O conscience of compassion...
Punished by mute claws
In nights of love and passion.
I remember the day I came to you,
Bowed down,
Staggering like a curse,
And I said to you:
I want mercy from you...
And I remember how you cried out loudly:
What's wrong with you?
What's wrong with you?
You sing...
Then you beg...
Then you sing?
-5-
O Compassionate Conscience
Were I not a barren wasteland
Where worms graze…
Or a moan that wounds the ears,
Forgive me,
For my moaning goes unheard
You would have bowed down in submission…
Submitting to my desire,
And said to me:
Ask and you shall find
Even the stars that do not enter
The realm of wishes is yours.
Beirut, Sabah Al-Khair, Issue 175, December 22, 1969
**
A Kiss
Give me a kiss
Then stone me
I am no longer content with my defeat
And the moaning
A kiss from you, the nights have stirred
So, grant it to me as mercy
If you have mercy on me
**
Nothing Sweeter
-1-
Nothing sweeter than cheeks
That smile when perfume touches them...
And melts.
-2-
Nothing sweeter than eyes
Behind which is a vineyard
That the sun came shining...
And it became fragrant.
-3-
Nothing sweeter than lips
That laugh at the moon at night
Even though the moon has set.
**
The joyful laughter
.. And you laughed
Ah, that joyful laughter!
In it is a revelation that cannot be hidden
Like light that touched water
And dried it up
Ah, it intoxicated me
It bewildered me
A laughter in whose very essence
God was revealed.
**
The Silent String
The flute moans, who hears?
For in the valley, the dawn's rays plead.
O my life...
And the twanging of my still string,
Your weeping is the moaning of the wounded,
Your tears are rain that does not quench thirst.
So be silent... be silent if you wish,
For in silence...
Is the humility of the devout ascetic?
Beirut Telegraph, Issue 8084, February 16, 1970
**
Dialogue
- Do you lament your fate?
Do you lament?
For I see in your eyes
A thousand sorrowful demons?
- I care not for him,
Whether he comes or goes.
- If he comes...!
How sweet hope is!
- Lost behind the years.
- And sorrow and lamentation
Invaded your heart.
- ...and lamentation.
Beirut Telegraph, Issue 8084, February 16, 1970
**
Do you see?
-1-
Do you see...
How the jasmine embraces the meadow
And the sorrowful fragrance?
-2-
Do you see...
How the smile,
Despite the lamentation,
Rises like the full moon
In the night of longing?
-3-
Why, my love, do you frown?
When the sun's supplication is sweet
Whenever a melodious,
Resonant laugh rises in the air?
**
Blessed are those in the wombs
-1-
I stood watching a distant star,
Like a sun that fears setting,
And recoils from it,
Like a small child struck by a snake.
-2-
I have surpassed my life,
And my life is but a mirage,
A world teeming with people
Who came to it,
Settled down,
And slept like the slain.
-3-
Blessed are those in the wombs
For every unborn child
For their world is the most beautiful world
Protected by God.
And in their world is happiness,
In it is bliss
And things with which I was most content,
Most joyful,
And most carefree.
-4-
I wept, and I weep.
For in the clinking of tears
There is solace for my heart,
And light for my path,
Shining like a morning star,
Like a full moon,
Like a candle!
Beirut Telegraph, Issue 8260, September 14, 1970
**
I weep
I weep...
And weep
Without ceasing
And I shed tears,
For my tears are a shared emotion
I weep, and weep
For the love of a heart
That wasted my life when it was lost
My cheeks grew pale
And I became crippled
It is difficult for me to take even a single step
I faded away despite the youth nourished
With the spirit of life, to end the loss
My beloved,
My eyes,
I beg you, return to me
In my heart is a moan...
In my chest is anguish
For my life has become an ocean of flames
And I am a ship without a sail
**
