The Poetry Corner

Maritime Poem

By Nizar Qabbani

In the blue harbor of your eyes Blow rains of melodious lights, Dizzy suns and sails Painting their voyage to endlessness. In the blue harbor of your eyes Is an open sea window, And birds appear in the distance Searching for islands still unborn. In the blue harbor of your eyes Snow falls in July. Ships laden with turquoise Spill over the sea and are not drowned. In the blue harbor of your eyes I run on the scattered rocks like a child Breathing the fragrance of the sea And return an exhausted bird. In the blue harbor of your eyes Stones sing in the night. Who has hidden a thousand poems In the closed book of your eyes? If only, if only I were a sailor, If only somebody'd give me a boat, I would furl my sails each evening In the blue harbor of your eyes.