Ballad 6 Poem by Ahmad Shiddiqi

along the Quseir Amra so strange, so wild
she must have grasped the heart, for they beguiled
these powerful words rise from Love, who stopped to note
they pause and recite no more until the brilliant quote

strewing Willow curly, and the perfumed Aquamarines
what though the blossom breathe for relieving hours?
a better part of the true whole, they fly
a charity hugging the Heaven's eternity

recalls Hwasong Fortress that love twice sang its lore
youth yields to expression, round in the Soul's deep core
confounded by the answer to her Way
no man can respond for uncertainty

Alfred Sisley speaks in that palace
through gates of Agadir her light they trace
and now she wait, reluctant that she leave
an eerie sense of dream at her sleeve