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Ennui
ملل
Her letter
flutters lightly
in my hand.
Each page conveys
a sigh of sentiment,
a dissipated breeze
that soothes the
surface of an
ornamental pool
but shies away
from any gross
particularity.
In Tarifa at noontime,
even the hibiscus
is exhausted.
Two poems
قصيتان للحب
I
In my palace,
I have built a hundred fountains.
Though they play all day,
not one can catch
the sparkle of her eyes.
II
In my garden,
I have made a paradise.
Alas, the chaffinch
sings her heart out
in my neighbor's tree.
Palace
قصر
Its courtyard traps
impatient air,
restrains the
ranks of tulips.
Here, too, I plan
my brilliant escape.
Ebb
جزر
In the tidy marina,
the tide is going out.
My last image of her
tugs at its mooring.
I pause on a slope
of the Alpujarras.
The wide sky can't
encompass my loss.
A hooded crow calls
two hours before fajr.
The engraver has come,
desperate for epitaphs.
Bosphorus
البوسفور
Seaweed reaches for
a radiance above: the
whirl of dervishes.