Daily Poem: Had the Fortune-teller Told Me ~ Lamia Abbas Amara
Had the Fortune-teller Told Me
~ Lamia Abbas Amara
Translated by Hend Saeed
If only the fortune-teller had told me that
you would, one day, be my beloved
I wouldn’t have written love poems for a man
but would have prayed, mute,
that you would always be my lover
If only the fortune-teller had told me that
I would touch the face of that high moon
I wouldn’t have dallied with the pebbles on the walls
or strung together the beads of my hopes
If only the fortune-teller had told me that
my beloved
would be a prince, astride a ruby horse
life would have pulled me along with its blonde braids
and I wouldn’t have dreamed of my death
If only the fortune-teller had told me that
my beloved, on a snowy night
would hold the sun in his hands
my lungs would’ve blossomed
and yesterday’s worries would have shrunk in my eyes
If only the fortune-teller had told me that
I would meet you in this labyrinth
I would have cried for nothing in this world
I would have gathered my tears
all my tears
for the day when you abandon me
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