A Prayer...!

I was asked: What ambition shows and hides
When I appear, in my going and my returning?
I said: Love of mankind, always, all of them —
Toward them my inclination ever grows.
I was asked: What ambition? I said: All creation —
In my blood, in my trembling, and in my sleep.
I shall fall asleep, and every breast shall be my breast,
And the farthest regions shall have become my regions.

I shall fall asleep, and every mouth shall be my mouth,
Where long devotion then grows sweet.

★

I shall fall asleep in the intoxication of love, until
The sun rises tomorrow from my ribs.

«The American University of Beirut»