-1-
Take and go away...
I will slap you...
If you come near again,
Like a slave...
Seeking a morsel from me.
-2-
And I went away,
Hastening my steps to the embrace of alleys
And corners,
Cursing the day, I was born
And I stretched out my hands to the people
So that the weight of death
Might be lifted from me.
-3-
And I withdrew, like a dark, gloomy night,
Planting eyes with staring and fear,
And I walked bare-handed,
Bound by my own hands,
Above my hopes and thoughts...
And my assumptions.
-4-
O conscience of compassion...
Punished by mute claws
In nights of love and passion.
I remember the day I came to you,
Bowed down,
Staggering like a curse,
And I said to you:
I want mercy from you...
And I remember how you cried out loudly:
What's wrong with you?
What's wrong with you?
You sing...
Then you beg...
Then you sing?
-5-
O Compassionate Conscience
Were I not a barren wasteland
Where worms graze…
Or a moan that wounds the ears,
Forgive me,
For my moaning goes unheard
You would have bowed down in submission…
Submitting to my desire,
And said to me:
Ask and you shall find
Even the stars that do not enter
The realm of wishes is yours.
Beirut, Sabah Al-Khair, Issue 175, December 22, 1969
**
