the lily and the rose

The Lily and a Rose
IBN al QUITIYYA (ca1120)
And Jan Oskar Hansen 2007

Taste the wine as you inhale
the fragrance of white lilies,
and at dawn, with a lover, see
the awakening of a rose.

As we suckle the heavens
tits of lilies milk and
rose’s blood we fill our
hearts with love

There are those who prefer
the camphor tree, the queen
of whiteness and the rose
that steals the shade


Idealized whiteness exhibited
by the lily, signify a sad
morning farewell, the paling
of lovers hands.


Or, if preferred, tubular silver
sheaves, embedded in wood,
that in the heat of nights set
fire to the wind