[Ask the lightning]

translated from the Arabic by Abdullah al-Udhari 

1 
Ask the lightning when its roar rips the night calm if it’s seen my man as it makes me think of him. 

2 
By Allah, it shakes my heart and turns my eyes into a raining sky. 

 

سلوا البارقَ الخفّاقَ واللّيلُ ساكنٌ أظلَّ بأحبابي يذكّرُني وَهنا لعمري لقد أهدى لقلبيَ خفقةً وأمطَرَني منهل عارضِه الجفنا

Credit

“[Ask the lightning]” by Hafsa bint al-Ḥājj al-Rakūniyya is published in Classical Poems by Arab Women: A Bilingual Anthology by Abdullah al-Udhari (Saqi Books, 1991). Used with the permission of Saqi Books.