Do Not Tell... To the One I Love

Hide the secret of our love — hide it,
and keep the pledge of a heart in which you dwell.
Do not tell our secret to the shining stars;
I fear for it, lest you give it away.

Do not tell the murmurings of hearts,
or the lover's words to the beloved.
Shall the talebearers win a meeting with you,
while my share is... that you not be my share?

Do not tell our secret to lifeless things;
do not lay open the sanctities of the heart.
Suspicions among your kin have parted us:
I am in one valley and you in another.

Flame of love — you are my water and my food;
flame of love — beware lest you die.
Without you I am a brook without water,
a lamp without wick or oil.

Do not think, when I recall our passion,
that I hope from you for pity and tenderness.
What lay between us was an old love —
so count it as though it had never been...

I cannot forget you,
and my heart persists in your memory.
I sing — while in my life there is an emptiness —
of meeting you: and I do not want to meet you.

Do you say: a mad poet?
Then tell me, what is love?
My heart went mad with love of one it never knew,
and it was said of old: madness has its arts.

Let reason judge for a moment, and hear me;
come with me to a sober verdict:
if it is you who erred — may God forgive you,
and if I am the one at fault... forgive me!!

Salim Mufarrij
Buenos Aires