Lantern of Apprehension
Translated by: Dr. Sharef Fayez

I hang the lantern of my apprehension
from the ceiling of an old cave
fearing the terror of a savage intruder 
I speak in the language of all birds, flowers, and plants
I cause to flow the spirit of the river
in my permanent isolation’s vessels 
I make a song from the breeze’s disheveled syllables
to rhyme with freedom
I hang the lantern of my apprehension
from the ceilings of ancient caves
I become a bird out of freedom
whose flight links one edge of the sky to another
And I call love by its real name
And I ask life to tell
what ID it has beyond its nickname
And with what a story
it goes to sleep when cuddling death
I feel a tremor in my heart
perhaps a bleeding dear is crashing
in a desert amid some spreading fear
And why so hastily, as the breathings of the wind,
I hang the lantern of my apprehension      
from the ceiling of a cave
in which death is born for the first time

 
March 2002
Peshawar