translated from the Arabic by Ameen Rihani
“What is thy faith and creed,” they ask of me,
“And who art thou? Unseal thy pedigree.”—
I am the child of Time, my tribe, mankind,
And now this world’s my caravanseri.
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.