Take Not the Joy Away!

If you be Nemesis

Gift me immolation

On this day of celebration,

Burn my world

But take not away

Your endearing smile

For one can live with many sorrows

But not without any joy;

The alpenglow of your lambent smile

Is but one felicity

That world’s niggardly bosom

Has ever let me imbibe

All that the Pierian Spring would offer

All the accumulation

In my temporal coffer;

For you perhaps,

Just two spread petals of rose;

For the heart that lives on the sight,

All the joy that world bestows

(Written on Eid 12 February 2003)