To the poem

You did not allow me to die
With hand in hand
the morning breeze
When I set out from the street
When there was sun
on my feeble arms
When not even my shadow
kept me company
When the wish to live cooled off
You did not allow me to die.

In the gutter among the worms
in disorderly flight
And shimmering flies
You saved me
from being a live corpse
From the deep trench of past
You brought me out giving me your hand
Gathering me in the arms
of radif and kafiya
You took me to your abode
You did not allow me to die.

In my arteries flowed
the dark melancholy
In the black begging bowl
only a hopeless star
In the dark tents within me
It was only you
who lit the lantern.
You welcomed gray hair
(that were the ashes
made of insult and despair)
You did not allow me to die.

It was your hand
of encouragement on my back
In the terrifying nights.
You had added to my zeal
at every turn of life
You flowered my smiles
In the desert of dead wrinkles of face
You decked my dry lips
With new and fresh songs.
You did not allow me to die.

From ‘Maanind’