translated from the Arabic by Ameen Rihani
Come, let us with the naked Night now rest
And read in Allah’s Book the sonnet best:
The Pleiads—ah, the Moon from them departs,—
She draws her veil and hastens toward the west
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.