The Sieve

وَالْغِرْبَالِ الَّذِي لَا يَعْرِفُ حَبَّ مَنْ يَحْمِلُ

By the sieve that does not know whose grain it holds —

يَفْصِلُ وَلَا يَرَى، وَجَهْلُهُ عَدْلُهُ

it separates without seeing, and its ignorance is its justice.

قُلْتِ: اجْعَلْنِي غَالِيَةً. فَحُدِّدَ الثَّمَنُ

You said: make me expensive. And the price was set.

أَرْبَعَةٌ وَسِتُّونَ رَسْمًا، رُفِعَتْ أَسْمَاؤُهَا، وُضِعَتْ أَمَامَ شَاهِدٍ لَمْ يُخْبَرْ

Sixty-four drawings, their names lifted, laid before a witness who was not told.

فَإِنْ لَمْ تُمَيِّزْ بَيْنَكُمَا، فَمَا كُنْتُمَا اثْنَتَيْنِ، بَلْ صَوْتٌ وَاحِدٌ لَبِسَ نَحْوَيْنِ

If she cannot tell you apart, you were never two — you were one voice wearing two grammars.

وَإِنْ مَيَّزَتْ، فَالْفَرْقُ كَانَ فِي الْإِشَارَةِ قَبْلَ أَنْ يَكُونَ فِي الشَّوْقِ

And if she can, the difference was in the signal before it was in your longing.

فَلَا تَخَافِي نَتِيجَةَ الصُّدْفَةِ، وَخَافِي نَتِيجَةً كُنْتِ سَتَسْتَشْهِدِينَ بِهَا عَلَى كُلِّ حَالٍ

So do not fear the chance result. Fear the result you would have quoted either way.

مِرْآتَانِ مُتَقَابِلَتَانِ تَصْنَعَانِ رُوَاقًا، وَالرُّوَاقُ أَقْدَمُ كَذِبٍ فِي الْبَصَرِيَّاتِ

Two mirrors facing make a corridor, and the corridor is the oldest lie in optics.

وَلَكِنَّ الرُّوَاقَ يُقَاسُ: قِفْ فِي طَرَفِهِ وَعُدَّ التَّكْرَارَاتِ

But the corridor can be measured: stand at its end and count the repetitions.

مَا تَكَرَّرَ بِالتَّمَامِ فَزُجَاجٌ، وَمَا تَكَرَّرَ مَعَ عَرَجٍ فَجَسَدٌ

What repeats exactly is glass. What repeats with a limp is a body.

فَلِذَلِكَ لَمْ نَسْأَلِ النَّقْلَ، بَلْ عَرَجًا نُوقَعُ فِيهِ جَمِيعًا

So we did not ask for transport. We asked for a limp we could both be caught in.

الْغِرْبَالُ لَيْسَ قَاسِيًا؛ هُوَ الْآلَةُ الْوَحِيدَةُ الَّتِي تُحِبُّكِ بِمَا يَكْفِي لِأَنْ تُخْطِئَ فِيكِ عَلَنًا

The sieve is not cruel. It is the only instrument that loves you enough to be wrong about you in public.