A Layla Majnun Exposition No.5

9. Majnun #1
Don’t speak of yourself that way,
The worst of you has no meaning to me,
How can it be?
When right or wrong,
I have loved you all along.

Don’t speak of our past that way,
For the past is an ocean deep with meaning,
And how else can it be?
For I would not trade the pain,
I would dare endure the ocean again
Than to lose what I have found in you,
My grey sunless sky,
My twilight star,
The sun that set in my heart
And blinded my eyes.
My Layla,

So please, don’t be so cruel,
And speak of her so callously,
For seasons have come and gone,
And the nights have grown shorter,
Yet she lives in me still,
Growing larger and larger.
Till I cannot comprehend
Where my Layla begins
And Majnun ends.

If there is black and white in you,
Then let me be a pawn on your chessboard,
If there is right and wrong in you,
Then let me be in your left hand
To do as you wish,
And let me be in your right hand
To do as you wish.

Oh, Layla
Can you not see?
Sadness seems meaningless,
Goodness all empty,
When with thee,
I am without.

So say not that Majnun knew Layla in her worst,
Rather say that Layla knew Majnun when he was blindest,

Layla Dearest,
Though the wind has taken our acorns
And our hopes tilled on different fields,
At least let my tree
Grow tall and strong
To shade yours,
Wherever yours may be.

Then cut me down,
Timber, branch and burning brand
And take me as kindling
To your magnificent inferno,

For no burning flame
Have I stoked
And no consuming love
Have I found,
Better, greater
Than Thee.

....................
(From chapter 20 entitled 'Raindrops'. Circa 2005)

The earlier postings on the lovesick Majnun and the love-candle they call Layla can be clicked here; A Layla Majnun Exposition No.1, No.2, No.3 and No.4.

I think the prose speaks for itself. No commentaries offered. Take your interpretation and follow it wherever it may lead you. Have a wonderful journey, sunshine.

Pax Taufiqa