“I hadn't told them about you,
But they saw you bathing in my eyes.
I hadn't told them about you,
But they saw you in my written words.
The perfume of love cannot be concealed.”
As one of the most widely-acknowledged Arabic poets, Nizar Qabbani's works focus around love and romance - a reason able to be found in the poet's personal life. Wissal Qabbani, the beloved sister of the poet, commited suicide in not being able to marry whom she loved, and after, many of the female personas of Qabbani's poems have been interpreted to be written in the eyes of his sister and on reflecting the immense depth of love she carried.
The poem above carries one of the most raw and honest expressions of the saying, "love cannot be hidden". Even without directly telling or announcing, the poet is already captivated by love as written as "bathing in my eyes". He cannot but hide his strong romantic feelings not by the mouth, but by his unintended actions or subtle difference of affection. Again, it is repeated that "I hadn't told them about you", emphasized a second time, but again, "they saw you in my written words". Though even if there had been no direct or evident portrayals of his romantic relationship, it is unintendly shown in his other "written words", and again, thus, cannot be hidden. The last sentence of the poem, "The perfume of love cannot be concealed" gives the last validation that love is something that cannot be encased but always leaked, as described as a perfume, and cannot be "concealed" as a mere object; this highlights the unattainable strength of love.