for Ashraf Fayadh

Once flowers blossomed in the text,
Words were like petals on water,
Walls whispered in Andalusian script
And paradise on earth was whole.

So if a poet is to be executed
Language grows a stronger root.
The channel of living water
Runs the length of the palace.

So if a poet is to be executed
The sacrifice of one magnifies
The charity of the harvest
For those who are hungry to learn.

The example of the faithful
Who waste a seed of mercy
Is to lose the seven stalks
From which a hundred grains fall.