Poem 122: The Dark One Poem by Samer Madbak

The “dark one” is a somber hood
A latent wood
Thickened with inky green
With lavish blank
What sorrows has she been
What grottoes, hid and dank,
What cankered aptitude? !
The “dark one” blooms
By muddy brooks unseen
How many vessels sank
Within her soul
How many darkling days
How many dooms
Have trimmed her kingly head
With gloomy bays
With laurels sable
Swathed her in a pall…
The “dark one” is a book unread
A tear unshed
So many miseries equipped
With miseries her table
And have fed
Her heart with dole
Have dipped
In holy gall
Her sooty bread!


Beirut
February 13th 1997