translated from the Arabic by Ameen Rihani
“Thou shalt not kill!”—Thy words, O God, we heed,
Though thy two Soul-devouring Angels feed
Thy Promise of another life on this,—
To have spared us both, it were a boon indeed.
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.