(to Amal) Musical Child of May, spirit fierce and fair! Born to Spring when the cricket cheers, or Drowsy nightingale weeps in melody, to beget A new breed that in future glory may rhyme-- Here to the twenty, and a thousand to come, Of all your soft and moon-lit mid-May eves. Strange how much change the passing day reveals, Stranger yet how your heart, sweet child, stays in love; ever-truer, Blind to what was or will be said. Glow! MayChild of that immortal season, ancient friend To Hyades that forever mourn and weep for their slain. Tender Star of May, beauty blessed before her birth! Rich and loyal in love, as some are not, Forget not: the ways of the are not those of love: In a rugged world where brutes tread their petty ways of hate, They break the heart that shows love in full faith; Venus, who versed you well in perfumed gardens of Spring, Knew that men's promise and trust vanish with the fleeting hour: Consider Echo who, for love sincere, became but a faint voice-- Consider one might not be so loved by whom one loves so deep! ­ -by Hakim H. Kassim.