Despair

[A tribute of admiration. To Fairuz, of the warm voice and the expressive delivery. I dedicate this piece. That she may set it free from her sorrowful throat... the melting of a soul, and a gust of longing, into the ears of the universe.]

Longing, longing—
its sorrowful echo resounds in my heart
and storms through my submissive world,
insisting, never desisting, never softening,
as if it were toying with me... or grudging me
a love watered
by the vistas of eternity
with a tender violence...
to tempt my heart down the bitterness of the years

*

And thought yearns—
a gentle phantom roams the nights of a lifetime,
hovering in my mind and in my gaze;
my tears stream down, and caution fails,
and a radiant restlessness sweeps through my soul—
and I long for him,
to kneel before him,
and in his eyes
I say my prayers again, and recite the images.

*

Beloved of hope,
do you know anything of this torment
in which I cradle my youth, withdrawn..
and drink misery from his two palms..
and melt my soul down to remnants... an offering—
remnants of a throbbing
for a wondrous love
and a dissolving captivity
that topples my life... with all this splendor!!

*

A playful mirage
glimmers before my eyes down every road,
and I hurry, rapturous, my heart a leap...
I ask... might he perhaps return,
so my voice sends back his tireless echo!?
A mirage... and it vanished..
as in a dream,
and these shadows...
shroud within you... your unruly passion.