Perturbation at Dawn

Day comes....

And when she sees the withering of the violet garden

And the saffron garden flowering,

The stars escaping on their black horse

And dawn on her white horse arriving,

She is afraid.

Against the sighing of her frightened breasts

She puts her hand;

I see what I have never seen,

Five perfect lines on a crystal leaf

Written with coral pens.

From the Arabic of Ebn Maatuk (seventeenth century).