All of a sudden the bird sings
Praises instead of condemnation
Spasmodically responding
To magnanimous rays shooting
Forth from your eyes.
I stalk warily approaching you
Anticipating a mirage
Only to behold
Instead of a moving shadow
A pool of tenderness.
Inference indeed erroneous
The desert is a fertile turf
Fecundated with a noble heart
That harvest munificence
Forever with blissful joy.
Essence of beauty lodges
Permanently in your mind
Glows within and illumines
To embrace us in a glare
Of kindness and warmth.
Zainab; a friend and sister to all
Chants the bird
Singing praises to a deserving dame
For yours indeed is
A pan of conquest
Over every soul that moves
Close to you.
Suleiman Zailani
EDITOR’S NOTE
Originally published in Citizen on 13 Dec 1993, p. 31. This diplomatic transcription preserves the wording and lineation visible in the archived page.