In the depths of a silent passageway at midnight
A footstep resounded,
Filling my heart, like those of spring flowers,
With the shivery dews of certainty.

"It is he who has returned," I said to myself.

I sprang up from my bed and, in the mirror of confusion,
Looked at myself in delight.
I sighed…My lips shuddering with love.
The face of the mirror was dimmed by my sigh;

Did it see cause for apprehension?

My hair disheveled, my lips dry,
My shoulder stripped naked of the night gown.
But in the darkness of the silent passageway
The footsteps approached faster and faster.

Suddenly my breath was trapped in my chest.

Having seen my sorrow, as it were, through the windows,
The spirit of the breeze began to pour over my disheveled hair
The pungent fragrance of acacia trees.

I rushed impatiently towards the door.

The footfalls in my chest
Sounded like the echo of a flute over the stretch of a plane.
But in the darkness of the silent passageway
The footsteps slipped away.

The wind began to sing a sad song.

Translated by Roya Yaghoubi