The Luzumiyat of Abu’l-Ala, XLII

translated from the Arabic by Ameen Rihani

We reach a door and there the legend find.
“To all the pilgrims of the Human Mind:
     Knock and pass on!” We knock and knock and knock;
But no one answers save the moaning wind.

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