The Allegrezza Ficcione, Part 21

My willowy beauty did not come to me
(Kecha kelgumdir debon)

That night, despite her promises,
my willowy beauty did not come to me.

That night, through until dawn,
sleep did not come to me.

In pain I searched the road, over & over.
Even though my heart was heavy

& felt like it was about to break
my light-hearted one did not come to me.

Perhaps it was the light of the moon
that her beauty resembles that stopped her;

but then again, on another night that was
as dark as my depression, she did not come to me.

People laughed at me because I wept.
Don't put me down thinking my eyes shed water.

All I could do was to shed blood
for that night even tears wouldn't come to me.

There isn't a person alive who can truthfully say
that they have never waited in vain for their lover

to come to them. So Navoiy, wash your heart
with wine. For in a home where wine is poured

sadness will never come.

from: Selected Poems of Alisher Navoi
translated by Umberto Allegrezza
The Manichean Press; Bukhara, Uzbekistan, 1998.

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