Memories of Childhood

Do you remember, when we both were children,
Once long ago, in our blessed village of Zahleh,
How, in the vineyard, two shadows would meet,
Exchanging their laughter in the intimacy of the vines?

Can you remember how eager we were
As we picked for each other the ripest of the grapes?
All that we paid for them then were our smiles,
And joyfully we tasted their sweet intoxication.

Do you remember that morning when two angels,
Who held in their arms all pleasures and delight,
Carried us off on a flight through the shining heavens,
Higher and higher till we circled the Pleiades?

And what of the river we haunted so often?
Is it still flowing between its green banks?
Bathing the trees of the wood with its freshness,
And with its affection enhancing their beauty?