Before the Tomb!

(On the third anniversary of Salma Sayegh)

Is this all that remains:
a stone bearing a name that laments itself away until
it is lost with the stone,
and a handful of dust the nose disdains
and the eye spits out!

And that headstrong vitality, scorning
distances, defying hardships, refusing —
for all effort — to go on,
and that radiant smile that inspires
and kindles and dispirits and pains,

What? ... Is everything over?
And this generous heart beating with
faithfulness and love and giving,
and that lofty, radiant brow
that bends in tenderness and never bows,
and that resplendent pen?
What?
Is this all that remains:
a stone bearing a name that laments itself away until
it is lost with the stone,
and a handful of dust the nose disdains
and the eye spits out

Pitiable is he whom the rapture of the unseen has never lulled.