Your face upon a drop of purple wine
Shows like my soul poised on a bead of blood.
From the Turkic of Hussein Baikrani.

THINGS SEEN IN A BATTLE

Clear diamond heart,
I have been hunting death
Among the swords.
But death abhors my shadow,
And I come back
Wounded with memories.
Your eyes,
For steel is amorous of steel
And there are bright blue sparks.
Your lips,
I see great bloody roses
Cut in white dead breasts.
Your bed,
For I see wrestling bodies
Under the evening star.
From the Turkic.

HUNTER'S SONG

Not a stone from my black sling
Ever misses anything,
But the arrows of your eye
Surer shoot and faster fly.
Not one creature that I hit
Lingers on to know of it,
But the game that falls to love
Lives and lingers long enough.
From the Turkic.