Colors from Foreign Literature

The Rainbow

Do you not see the rainbow
trembling as the ray passes through,
as though it were a serpent upon its couch,
as though it were the serpent of the sky in its orange hues?
Behold it, raising its neck amid the mist,
as though it were a jeweled sword,
as though it were the bridge of space,
the great bridge of space!..

Is it a bridge for the passing of your angels,
O mighty Creator?
Upon this bridge do they attain unto You?
Ah, if only I could reach
unto where this bridge begins!
Climbing the stairs of the blue firmament,
walking upon the crown of death and time,
and our two bodies fused together... O Lawrence.

"Lamartine"
translated by: Abu Shabaka

* * *

The Light...

The night has a thousand eyes...
and the day but one....
yet the light of the universe fades away
with the fading of the setting sun's ray.

And the mind has a thousand eyes...
and the heart has but one..
and what remains of the light of life
when the ember of love dies out?.

Bourdillon
translated by: Mahmoud al-Akhal