Fragrance

... This is a warm outpouring from the stirrings of a heart overflowing with poetry and feeling, brought to us by the mail of the green island — Cyprus — from the poetess Nahida Fadli

From my eyes and my lips, my ribs and my blood,
I weave the letter into a passion from which song drinks its fill;
from the sun's own kin,
enchantress of the sky,
I color the letters
a springtime that roams
through this wide air...

I bewitch the flowers with my perfume and promise them bounty;
enough for them a glance from me, and from my eyelid a summons,
to fill the meadows
with fragrance that surges
with a thousand breezes
and a thousand melodies
that melt the snows.

The flutter of my lashes is cooing, and my eyes' corners are brimming,
and my tears are a washing of purity that glitters in the evening.
How many hearts
weighed down with sins
have I given my blood
with a letter from my mouth,
for whose sake they repent.