Beyond the sea, so calm and smooth.
The tide so low and the wind so cool.
Far very far there is a small booth;
Some Jolly called it Paradise of Fools.
There’s an ugly hut with brambles around,
Forlorn, deserted, without human sound.
People around don’t look at it twice,
But for me it is a rare device.
Because the hidden secret I only know,
On cool nights when the strong winds blow,
A beautiful maiden does oft appear
As if alone in the whole sphere.
The story goes that betrayed by man
She could’nt bear to live so away she ran;
A decade since she’s been dead,
Not a flower to wit beside her bed.
Oft on dark nights this mournful soul I see.
And wonder when her pain will cease.
-by Zainab Mazhar
from Sometime Somewhere (1977)
