Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Dedication
- Acknowledgements
- Foreword
- Introduction
- On Generosity
- On Life
- On Time and Days
- On Gray Hair and Youth
- On The Length of a Lover’s Night
- On Love Induced Emaciation
- On Love
- On Soul-Melting Love
- On ṣūfī Love
- On the Phantom of the Beloved
- On Wine and Drinking
- On Beauty
- On Soft Skin
- On Eyes and Tears
- Carpe Diem
- On Poetry and Meaning
- On Grief
- On Awe
- On Separation
- On Jealousy
- On Homeleaving
- On Longing for First Love, First Home
- On Noble Descent
- On Transcendent Qualities
- On Death Transformed
- On Battle, Battlefields, and Swords
- On Flora, Fauna, and Nature
- On Physical Attributes
- Hyperbolic Miscellany
- Bibliography
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Dedication
- Acknowledgements
- Foreword
- Introduction
- On Generosity
- On Life
- On Time and Days
- On Gray Hair and Youth
- On The Length of a Lover’s Night
- On Love Induced Emaciation
- On Love
- On Soul-Melting Love
- On ṣūfī Love
- On the Phantom of the Beloved
- On Wine and Drinking
- On Beauty
- On Soft Skin
- On Eyes and Tears
- Carpe Diem
- On Poetry and Meaning
- On Grief
- On Awe
- On Separation
- On Jealousy
- On Homeleaving
- On Longing for First Love, First Home
- On Noble Descent
- On Transcendent Qualities
- On Death Transformed
- On Battle, Battlefields, and Swords
- On Flora, Fauna, and Nature
- On Physical Attributes
- Hyperbolic Miscellany
- Bibliography
Summary
Their faces and noble descent
have so illuminated
the dark night
that a piercer of beads
could string his onyx
Abū ‘l-Ṭaḥmān al-Qaynī (died in the year 10 before Hijrah, i.e., 611??)
What a noble youth he is!
Were he to sit
in company with* the sun
it would cast away its veil,
Or in company with the moon
the moon would drop
its reins
al-Aʿshā (d. 8/629)
* ‘To sit in company with’ “yunādī” also means to call, to summon or to vie in glory with.
Information
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- Chapter
- Information
- Pouring Water on TimeA Bilingual Topical Anthology of Classical Arabic Poetry, pp. 127Publisher: Gerlach PressPrint publication year: 2016
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