?What ails you, moon, that you seem so sad
?Is it loneliness, or the madness of man’s own hand
?Is it isolation, or the treachery of the year
,What ails you, moon, that you pull away
?When you are the closest to two hearts that sway
,What ails you, moon, that you linger so near
?When you are as ancient as time’s first tear
?When you are the comfort of my every place
,What ails you, moon, that you feel so tame
?When the cosmos calls you a dark, lifeless flame
,What ails you, moon, that you turn so cold
?When your gentle light makes the young and old bold
,What ails you, moon, that you bow with grace,
?When you are the tyrant of every lover’s race
,What ails you, moon, that you shine so bright
?When no sun ever kissed you with morning light
,What ails you, moon, that you seem unjust
?When you light the lost caravans through the dust
,What ails you, moon, that you stand so bare
?When you are the compass of all humans anywhere
,What ails you, moon, that you bloom so grand
?While your dark side catches the stars like sand
,What ails you, moon, that you seem so old
? When the fairest of men in your shape are told
? Though your years cross a billion, undefiled
,What ails you, moon, that you hold your tongue
?When poets have wept and the lyres been strung
,What ails you, moon, that you rage and roar
?When you are the silence that me restore
,What ails you, moon, that you hide your will
?Till wolves on the ridges lament you still
?When you lift every hope the moment you’ve shown
,What ails you, moon, that you rebel and fight
?When you bow to your Lord, and the Quran writes your light
,What ails you, moon, that you kneel and weep
?When no man or spirit your silence could keep
,What ails you, moon, that turns you so mad
?When you believe that you are not just a bunch of sand
Tell me, moon
?Why did you vanish behind the cloud’s veil
?Why did you rob the tide of its wail
?Why did you turn the sea of grief to sail
?Why do you stir the ache that must not fail
?Why did you charm the sinners into your rite
?Why did you guide the rulers to love your light
?Why did you stud the night’s dome with your spark
?Why did you hide the sun’s face in the dark
Tell me, moon
?What have you seen in the folds of creation
?What have you learned of every living nation
?What have you touched of each meteor near
?What have you grasped from each star far and clear
?Were you and sadness born together
?Is the stars’ song lost forever
?Does the melody of eternity always remain
?Does the silence of space float without promise or pain
,Of civilizations born under your glow, and others decayed
,Of peoples who lived in your shadow, and others who frayed
,Of shores that your tide covered, and shores left bare
.Of waves that you lifted, and waves of despair
Tell me, moon
,Of a child’s smile because they named you her own
,Of the joy of poets who dreamed you alone
,Of the longing of a lover whose heart was never hollow
.Of the sighs of a beloved who watched you all night, full of sorrow
Now hear me, moon
?Do you know who I am, moon
I am the one who walked the earth a million years before
I am the one for whom the earth became a narrow floor
I am the one created from water’s sacred bead
I am the one who set out to find his soul in the void’s decreed
I am the one never granted rest or peace
I am the one who loved the word “fantasy” without cease
I am the one who rebelled against my own state
I am the one whose tears flowed—and now I no longer wait
I am the one who circled the earth and climbed every hill
I am the one who never knew the meaning of “impossible” still
I am the one who wept for myself one day
I am the one whom sleepless nights wore away
I am the one who began to search for a love—its distance tore me apart
I am the one who returned to find the covenant gone from my heart
I am the one whose voice broke the silence of the deep
And the highest heavens heard my cry and woke from sleep
I am the one who never surrendered, no matter how long I live
Because the Most Merciful has always been merciful to me—He continues to give
I am the one who asked nothing of life but to be human, true
?But you, moon, never once cared—not even a little—did you
