Zenith Poem by Ahmad Shiddiqi

(dedicated to Ms. Sandra Fowler, a great poet at poemhunter)

I whisper to me
I call my soul
I come to you
I envelop your hope

If love is merely a promise
Why then sink and rise?
O lethargic feeling! O terrestrial experience!
Longing is blossom, so is fragrance

I sing to me
I invite my dream
I talk to you
I play your melody

If death is merely a moment
Why then hesitate and complain?
O peaceful idyll! O eternal glance!
Memory is farewell, so is happiness

I walk to me
I feel my anxiety
I listen to you
I adore your amour

If life is merely a flash
Why then confuse and waste?
O unspeakable beauty! O superstitious fear!
Chance is misery, so is care

Maidens are plucking sparkle flowers
Along riverbank, near garden
Reflecting joy in humble zephyr
Look over there! Is worth more than gold!

Poets are writing precious verses
Among children, beside families
Drifting vision in spontaneous space
Look over there! Is valuable more than palace!

Painters are drawing gorgeous panoramas
Around mountain, in front of oceans
Bearing inner gloom in magnificent doom
Look over there! is honor more than armor!

O bitter tears!
How long will you
Embrace to hug me
To cover my withered spirit?

O shiny love!
How long will you
Embrace to kiss me
To strengthen my evaporated wish?

O silken dreams!
How long will you
Embrace to guide me
To lit my scattered heart?

When the last flowering
Cherry blossoms fall
From the branches
Of Spring song

When the rice growing
Of total greenery
Throughout the country
In Summer festival

When swirls of changing leaves
Bring harvest time in vivid hues
Of gold, bronze, crimson, yellow
In Autumn ceremony

When colder wind blows tenderly
And pure snow descends majestically
Spread intimate ice blanket
Of Winter unison

O friend, I long at your side
Sleep blissfully in a jaded pavilion
Between these two inspiring bridges
And still resound in my nostalgic regards

(inspired by Gustav Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde)