And of me say the fools: <br />I entered the lodges of women <br />And never left. <br />And they call for my hanging, <br />Because about the matters of my beloved <br />I, poetry, compose. <br />I never traded <br />Like others <br />In Hashish. <br />I never stole. <br />I never killed. <br />I, in broad day, have loved. <br />Have I sinned? <br /> <br />And of me say the fools: <br />With my poetry <br />I violated the sky’s commands. <br />Said who <br />Love is <br />The honor-ravager of the sky? <br />The sky is my intimate. <br />It cries if I cry, <br />Laughs if I laugh <br />And its stars <br />Greatens their brilliance <br />If <br />One day I fall in love. <br />What so <br />If in the name of my beloved I chant, <br />And like a chestnut tree <br />In every capital I, her, plant. <br /> <br />Fondness will remain my calling, <br />Like all prophets. <br />And infancy, innocence <br />And purity. <br />I will write of my beloved’s matters <br />Till I melt her golden hair <br />In the sky’s gold. <br />I am, <br />And I hope I change not, <br />A child <br />Scribbling on the stars’ walls <br />The way he pleases, <br />Till the worth of love <br />In my homeland <br />Matches that of the air, <br />And to love dreamers I become <br />A diction-ary, <br />And over their lips I become <br />An A <br />And a B.<br /><br />Nizar Qabbani<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/clarification-to-my-poetry-readers/
