Absence

Every night I scan

the heavens with my eyes

seeking the star

that you are contemplating.

 

I question travelers

from the four corners of the earth

hoping to meet one

who has breathed your fragrance.

 

When the wind blows

I make sure it blows in my face:

the breeze might bring me

news of you.

 

I wander over roads

without aim, without purpose.

Perhaps a song

will sound your name.

 

Secretly I study

every face I see

hoping against hope

to glimpse a trace of your beauty.

 

 

Abu Bakr al-Turtushi

(1059-1126) Eastern Andalusia

(from Poems of ARAB ANDALUSIA, translated by Cola Franzen. City Lights Books, San Francisco, 1989)