He said
"Pretend you are a princess
lost - bare footed in the sand
where, having recognized you ,
dawn bows in awe
He said
"Pretend you are water
under the sand's
mercurial fingers
whence saladins* - having found
and drank from you -
are shepherds now,
divining,
in their search of wells
I never got to say :
"Pretend,
you are, in turn,
a Saladin *,
riding on the morning light.
Your divining rod : a sword,
golden on the rising dawn
Your princess freed : a water spring,
singing
at the foot of trees
Sylvie M. Miller
* Definition of Saladin : Sultan of Syria and Egypt; reconquered Jerusalem from the Christians in 1187 but was defeated by Richard Coeur de Lion in 1191 (1137-1193).
