Jasmine. Poem on Sandpaper

Fairuz raises her lips
to heaven
to let jasmine rain down
on those who once met
without knowing they were in love.
I’m listening to her in Muhammad’s
Fiat at noon on Ibn Gabirol St.
A Lebanese singer playing in an Italian car
that belongs to an Arab poet from
Baqa’ ‘al-Gharbiyye on a street named
after a Hebrew poet who lived in Spain.
And the jasmine?
If it falls from the sky at the end of days
it’ll stay green for
just a second at
the next light.

Translation: Ammiel Alcalay