Classic Poem

There was a heart that burnt out: light
Light O god, O god light

Flower, perfume, stars, breeze: light
These are your names, no matter how we shape you

When afternoon rose on the evening's horizon
Who was it in my heart who said: light

Now there is no point in adorning the stars
The season of meeting him is gone: light

Dawn broke on a dream in which
I wrote simply by looking: light

The two curses we are trapped between:
How we live in darkness, how we imagine: light

[Translated by Nukhbah Langah and Lavinia Greenlaw]