[We miss you]

translated from the Arabic by Abdullah al-Udhari 

1 

We miss you like the earth longing for rain, and without you we have no more books nor revelations. 

2 

I wish death had swept us all away before you were buried and  mourned.

                                     إنّّا فقدنا ك فقْْدََ الأر ضِِ وابلها
 وغا بََ مذ غبتََ عنّّا الو يُحُ والكتبُُ
                                     فليتََ قبلََ ك كان الموتُُ صادََفََنا
 لما نعيتََ و حالََت دون ك الكتبُُ

Credit

“[We miss you]” by Fatimah bint Muhammad is published in Classical Poems by Arab Women: A Bilingual Anthology by Abdullah al-Udhari (Saqi Books, 1991). Used with the permission of Saqi Books.