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.