The Luzumiyat of Abu’l-Ala, LXI

translated from the Arabic by Ameen Rihani

How oft, when young, my brothers I would shun
If their religious feelings were not spun
      Of my own cobweb, which I find was but
A spider’s revelation of the sun.

Credit

The Luzumiyat of Abu’l-Ala (James T. White & Co., 1920) by Abū al-‘Alā’ al-Ma‘arrī. Translated from the Arabic by Ameen Rihani. Copyright © 1920 by Ameen Rihani. This poem is in the public domain.

Translators
Ameen Rihani
1876 –
1940