Stars of the Desert/The Island of Desolation: Song of Mohamed Akram
The Island of Desolation: Song of Mohamed Akram
Here on the Island of my Desolation
I look across the wastes of azure sea;
None of the ships that pass in exaltation
Have any cargo or commands for me.
Not in the red of any joyous morning,
Not in the gold of any sunset light,
Will they run up the flag to give me warning
That the so longed-for vessel looms in sight.
Sometimes I light the beacon fires of passion
To lure frail pleasure craft towards the shore,
Join the night revels in half-hearted fashion
Only to wake more lonely than before.
Now and again some friendly soul has landed,
Taken his careless welcome; sailed away,
And in the time of tempest, ships have stranded,
Spilling rich merchandise about the bay.
White bones among the mangroves glisten dimly,
Drift with the water, in the sunshine bleach,
While the gaunt ribs of wreckage rising grimly
Guard the forlornness of the wind-swept beach.
Inland, among the fern and seeding grasses
Where the Acacia, silken-tasselled, waves,
The summer wind sighs softly as it passes
Over the green of half forgotten graves.
Little I heed; my eyes gaze ever seaward,
Straining to glimpse the ship I never see,
My constant soul, set like a compass, theeward,
Even as thine was always turned from me.
Ah, how I loved thee! Hoping to forget thee,
Where are the things I did not vainly try?
But every cell and fibre still regret thee,
Even in death remembrance will not die.
If thou shouldst seek me (though thou comest never,
My hopes, like Lighthouse rays, stream forth to thee)
Thou wouldst still find me faithful, watching ever,
Or buried with my face towards the sea.