C.D. Warner, et al., comp.
The Library of the World’s Best Literature. An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.
Lamii (Mohammed Ben Osman Ben Ali Nakkash)
Poems from Oriental Languages: What Is Love?
Translation in Dublin University Magazine
W
Liken it, he answered, weeping,
To a flood unchained and sweeping
Over shell-strown grottoes, over
Beds of roses, lilies, tulips,
O’er all flowers that most enrich the
Garden, in one headlong torrent,
Till they show a wreck from which the
Eye and mind recoil abhorrent.
Hearts may woo hearts, lips may woo lips,
And gay days be spent in gladness,
Dancing, feasting, lilting, luting,
But the end of all is Sadness,
Desolation, Devastation,
Spoliation, and Uprooting!