Oh marble goddess
Standing erect like a gallows,
It is not a torch of liberty you carry!
...
Don't light the candles, Shahrazad
Shahriyar lays waste a town a night
He bathes his madness in its blood
He pours fires into the vessels of peace.
...
The elders remember
The earth was unlimited
The water sweeter
The loaf more delicious
...
I want for myself:
twenty hands,
A sheet of paper large as a tropical forest,
A pen big as a palm-tree,
...
Here I am, spreading fresh water, plaintive songs,
Sweet myrtle flowers,
Unsleeping.
...