Verses of Poetry on Love
Here are some well-known poetic verses about love and admiration:
Poem: I Remain in Love, O My Hope
By Abdul Ghani al-Nablusi:
I remain in love, O my hope
Blending monotheism with romance.
And my eyes are awake for you,
Their tears like torrential rain.
I wish for a glimmer from your light,
Just a glance to extinguish my fever.
For my insides are consumed by you,
And my body is weary from love.
My patience, since you turned away,
Has vanished, yet my yearning remains.
Grant me sight through meeting, even
In slumber, O ultimate aspiration.
Be gentle with the longing heart and end
This coldness; embrace and appease.
Let my longing soul partake in your company,
O cure for my heart from ailments!
O wish of this heart, and
My desire, my every reliance!
O sunlight of mine when it rises,
By day and in infancy!
O what I seek when I say, and what
Is my intent when I keep silent.
Take a promise from your separation,
For we are anxious about it.
Then be as you were in the days of yore.
How often I struggle with this separation!
Ah! I have little power within love.
The one I adore is draped
In the beauty of the universe,
As I pass through Kadhimah,
With a breeze that has erased my trace.
And the flashes of the neighborhood shimmer,
At the moment my fate is calling.
This entire cosmos is a mere whiff
Of an eternal rose.
It has scented me when it wafted
From it; I cannot turn away.
What is intoxicating is fatuous beauty,
Its fragrance wafting from the cliff.
The lips of flowers have smiled,
From the hills of the highest prophets.
O rebuker, who chastised me foolishly,
I do not heed the reproach.
My heart, weary, clings to longing,
Not turning away from the gazelle’s love.
Infatuated with one of great stature,
Beyond my knowledge and my deeds,
Unmatched in creation,
There is none like him in command.
Exalted beyond my word; greater,
Than all hidden and all revealed.
Connecting yet disconnected,
Isolated yet inseparable.
No one sways from His command,
Always amidst all sects and schools.
But the matter splits,
Between pure truth and deviation.
This division becomes evident
In the aspects of its inferior beings.
Though in the heights, it remains one.
Before it becomes evident to the ones with eyes,
These are our finest garments,
A robe gracing a champion.
We have tailored it for a lad,
Whose resolve is free from laziness.
The wine of wisdom intoxicates,
A sip sweeter than honey.
So welcome us, O beloved,
And rejoice in this grand abode!
Poem: Love is but Obedience and Transcendence
By Ahmed Shawqi:
Love is but obedience and transcendence,
Even if they elaborate its attributes and meanings.
It is but the eye meeting the eye,
Even if they vary its causes and motivations.
Poem: No Affliction Like Love’s Illness
By Al-Ahwasi Al-Ansari:
No one treats like love’s illness,
Nor does it carve like it to bone or body.
Love’s signs soon emerge,
From the lover even if he never makes it clear.
Verses of Wisdom
Here are some famous poetic verses on wisdom:
Poem: Let Time Do As It Wishes
By Imam Al-Shafi’i:
Let the days do as they please,
And find peace when destiny rules.
Do not despair for life’s accidents,
For the events of this world are transient.
Be a man of steadfastness in trials,
And let kindness and loyalty be your traits.
If your faults are many among people,
And it pleases you for them to be covered,
Hide them with generosity, for every flaw
Is concealed, as has been said, by generosity.
And do not show any sign of shame to your enemies,
For the delight of foes is a trial.
Do not expect generosity from the stingy,
For there is no water for the thirsty in the fire.
Your sustenance is not diminished by patience,
Nor does hardship increase it.
No sorrow lasts, nor joy,
Nor is there hardship or ease for you.
If you are content at heart,
Then you and the master of the world are the same.
Whoever has calamities befall him,
There is no land that shelters him, nor sky.
Yet Allah’s land is vast, but when
Destiny descends, space shrinks.
Let time betray at every instance,
For no medicine can help against death.
Poem: We Cry for This World and There is No Tribe
By Abu at-Tayyib Al-Mutanabbi:
We cry for the world, and there is no tribe,
United by this world, that has not parted.
Where are the kings, the tyrants,
Who amassed treasures yet we remain, neither they nor we?
From every one who was lost to the space with his army,
Until he lies below in a narrow grave.
They become mute when called, as if they did not know,
That speaking is their unrestrained right.
And death is imminent; souls are precious,
And the foolish person is heedless of his possessions.
And man hopes, while life is sweet,
And old age weighs him down; youth vanishes.
Verses of Asceticism
Here are some well-known poetic verses on asceticism:
Poem: By Your Life, This World Is Not a Place for Eternity
By Abu Al-Atahiyah:
By your life! This world is not a place of permanence,
Your abode after death is the home of mortality.
So do not fall in love with this world, my dear, for
You see its lovers struggling in great suffering.
Its sweetness is mingled with bitterness,
And its pleasure is mixed with toil.
Do not walk one day in dazzling attire,
For you were created from clay and water.
Rare is the one you meet who is grateful to Allah,
And scarce is the one who is content with His decree.
Indeed, Allah’s blessings upon us are immense,
And His benevolences and gifts are plentiful.
And time does not remain one day in its differences,
Nor are all the days of youth the same.
It is merely a day of distress and hardship,
And a day of joy once and of ease.
And not everything I do not hope to attain is denied to me,
And not everything I hope for is ever granted.
Oh, the wonder of time! No, rather the wonder of its uncertainties;
Time has ripped apart every bond of friendship.
And the uncertainty of time has shattered all gatherings,
And has discolored all clarity.
Whenever a companion entered the realm of decay,
Then spare me the debts and the distance from encountering.
I visit the graves of the affluent but see no charm,
Yet they were, before, the essence of charm.
Poem: O Lord, If My Sins Are Many
By Abu Nuwas:
O Lord, if my sins are numerous,
I know that Your forgiveness is greater.
If no one hopes but the good-doer,
Then who will call upon You, hoping, except the sinner?
I call upon You, Lord, as You commanded, humbly,
And if You were to turn my hand away, who would have mercy?
There is no means for me to reach You, except hope,
And the beauty of Your forgiveness; indeed, I am a believer.
Verses of Praise
Here are some famous poetic verses of praise:
Poem: For You Are the Sun, and the Kings Are the Stars
By Al-Nabighah Al-Dhubiani:
For you are the sun, and the kings are stars,
If it rises, none among them shines.
Poem: Are You Not the Best of Those Who Ride
By Jarir:
Do you awaken, or is your heart unresponsive,
At dusk when your fellows sought to depart?
The reproachers say your gray hair has come,
Does this gray stop my delight?
My heart is troubled by its desire for you,
Women who journey past on their spears.
Women who have not yielded among the Christians,
And do not know the depths of the desert.
For some water is Rabab’s rain,
And some water is from the salty marshes.
Merely tolerating the reproachers is sufficient,
Whose complexion is like the fierce horses.
Hard for the road beneath their shoulders,
As the wayfarer stumbles upon the arrows.
Mother Ḥazrah consoled and then said,
“I saw the ones coming in the midst of majesty.”
She excused them, while they were anxious for her,
With breaths from the gentle rain of the desert.
I will indulge in the seas, so spare me,
From the unbearable blame and wait for my elevation.
Trust in Allah; He has no partner,
And from the caliph’s presence in success.
Help me, may your parents be your ransom,
With your blessing; indeed, you are comfortable.
For I have indeed seen righteousness upon me,
In visiting the caliph and my praises.
I shall thank you for restoring my feathers,
And confirming my merits in my wings.
Are you not the best of those who ride,
And the most generous among them with fine wine?
Verses of Life
Here are poetic verses about life:
Poem: Life is a Struggle
By Abu Qasim Al-Shabi:
Indeed, life is a struggle,
In which the weak are trampled down.
No one has triumphed in its challenges,
Except for the strong-willed.
In wisdom, there are concerns,
So be a vigilant young man.
The universe is a realm of misery,
A space of entangled affairs.
The universe is a realm of fabrications,
And tumult and theft.
In my eyes, there is no difference between
Joy and sorrow.
Poem: O Spring of Life
By Muhammad bin Ali Al-Sanusi:
O spring of life, where is my spring?
Where are the dreams of my wakefulness and slumber?
Where, O lush land of youth, are the hopes
Of my youth and aspirations?
Where, O poet of nature, is the melody
Crafted from the heart of your lofty love?
My emotions and wishes echoed it,
As it fluttered within my ribcage.
O spring of life, what is my life’s flavor,
When its hue is uniform, devoid of variety?
No winter or spring, only summer's heat,
In its dreadful blaze!
O spring of life, can you show mercy
To a garden without a spring?
It was scorched by summer’s rays until
It was stripped of its flowers and branches.
And it was struck by poisons from every direction,
By storms in the morning and twilight.