1. Like the return of years to my blind eyes
Suddenly, like the greening of a withered bier

2. And as life extended her hands
To a drowning man bound for death

3. And as the vigor of carefree youth
Bends to the throbbing of an old man

4. You returned suddenly, a singular return
After doubt, to your fervent Lord

5. You endured the path to glorious return
And competed in the noble struggle

6. You looked around, who do you see, whom do you call?
Where are you heading: to the fearful void?

7. You saw the features of panic
Like the door of a crowded prison

8. And trunks with faces and brows
And the sullenness of a weary camel

9. Suspicions stirred in you and you listened
To the slight echo and fancy of whim

10. And as quiet falls after loud clamor
On restless hearing

11. A glimmer appeared and you saw something
Like the flickering of a faint lamp

12. It gave its life to the perplexed
On its face, the apology of the remorseful

13. You felt a living, stirring thing
Twisting under the gentle winter

14. Villages judged their brief lives
On the most trivial disputes and foolish drivel

15. Their pores opened to the wind
Asking: about the scent of bread

16. You approached life to look upon them
Remnants of meager crumbs

17. And the bodies there were corpses
Their blood frozen around them

18. A mother writhed, in her
The sweat of summer and shiver of autumn

19. You asked her name and there appeared
From her wrinkles, familiar affection

20. She turned relating: her father
Was from Zabid, and her mother from Thaqif

21. So you restored her spring, and she touched
Two intertwined and delicate youths

22. You descended, guest of affection
To the abode of loss, most generous host

23. You descended in processions of sunrises
And crowds of soft green

24. In a frame of waiting sparrows
And the fervor of the blind morning

25. You roamed the expanse, and faces ignited
And brows of lofty pride

26. You returned and the yellowing of coffins
Bent to the greenness of genteel youth