[Ask the lightning]
translated from the Arabic by Abdullah al-Udhari
1
Ask the lightning when its roar rips the night calm if it’s seen my man as it makes me think of him.
2
By Allah, it shakes my heart and turns my eyes into a raining sky.
سلوا البارقَ الخفّاقَ واللّيلُ ساكنٌ أظلَّ بأحبابي يذكّرُني وَهنا لعمري لقد أهدى لقلبيَ خفقةً وأمطَرَني منهل عارضِه الجفنا
“[Ask the lightning]” by Hafsa bint al-Ḥājj al-Rakūniyya is published in Classical Poems by Arab Women: A Bilingual Anthology by Abdullah al-Udhari (Saqi Books, 1991). Used with the permission of Saqi Books.