[When we walked along the garden path]
translated from the Arabic by Abdullah al-Udhari
1
When we walked along the garden path, there was no smile on the garden’s face but green envy and yellow bile.
2
And when we stood on the riverbank, the river was not a bubble of rippling joy, and the dove cooed with spite.
3
You shouldn’t take the world as it looks just because you’re good.
4
Even the sky blazed on its stars to scan our love.
لعمركَ ما سُرَّ الرّياضُ بوصلنا ولكنّه أبدى لنا الغلَّ والحسد ولا صفَّقَ النّهرُ ارْتياحاً لقربِنا ولا غرَّدَ القمريُّ إلا لمّا وجد فلا تُحسِنِ الظّنَّ الّذي أنتَ أهلُه فما هو في كل المواطنِ بالرّشد فما خلْتُ هذا الأفق أَبْدى نجومه لأمرٍ سوى كيما تكون لَنا رصد
“[When we walked along the garden path]” by Hafsa bint al-Ḥājj al-Rakūniyya 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.