translated from the Arabic by Ameen Rihani
But now the funeral is passing by.
And in its trail, beneath this moaning sky.
The howdaj comes,—both vanish into night;
To me are one, the sob, the joyous cry.
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.