translated from the Arabic by Ameen Rihani
Upon the threshing-floor of life I burn 
Beside the Winnower a word to learn;
        And only this:   Man’s of the soil and sun, 
And to the soil and sun he shall return.
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.