Stanzas from the Poem “When We Met, I Found Her Fingers”
The poet Yazid ibn Muawiya reflects on his return from travels, only to discover that his beloved has married:
When we finally met, I found her fingers
Stained as if they tell of juices from the harvest.
I said, “Did you dye your hands after me? Is this
The reward for one who is deeply enamored?”
She replied, and deep within her heart, she cast
A statement from one who has never grown weary of love.
I wept blood on the day of separation, then I restrained it
With my hands, and my fingers turned red from the blood.
If only I had wept earlier, I could have shed tears of longing
For Su’ad, whom I healed my soul before regretting.
But she wept before me, stirring my own weeping;
Her tears led me to acknowledge the precedence of the one who mourned first.
Stanzas from the Poem “If You Desire to See Layla from Afar”
Yazid ibn Muawiya eloquently describes the beauty and virtues of his beloved Layla:
If I desire to see Layla from a distance,
It quenches a yearning between my heart and my ribs.
The women of the neighborhood long to see
Her beauty; they are captives of desire.
How can Layla be seen with eyes that can only behold
Others, and cannot cleanse her with weeping tears?
She delights in speaking with me, although
Her conversations with others break through my ears.
I hold you dear, Layla, far from the eyes; I depend on
A heart with humility, submissive to you.
Stanzas from the Poem “I Care Not When Their Crowds Meet”
The poet Yazid ibn Muawiya expresses his indifference to people, assured that he possesses enough:
And I am indifferent if their crowds gather
In the sweltering heat and in the dampness of disease.
If I recline on the high seats, proud as I am,
With all the grandeur of Kalthum’s mother.
Stanzas from the Poem “God Did Not Prohibit Wine in Vain”
Yazid ibn Muawiya speaks of wine and the divine reasons behind its prohibition:
God did not prohibit the drinking of wine for trivial reasons
But rather for a secret hidden within it.
When He observed that people became enamored with it,
And all the forms of meaning it encapsulated.
He ordained its prohibition out of fear that they
Might become submissive to it, worshipping it as a sovereign.
Stanzas from the Poem “I See You Merry”
In this poetic expression, Yazid ibn Muawiya explores themes of love:
I see you merry, captivated as a lovesick one,
Wandering around the camp of the intruded.
Have you been struck by an arrow, or have you been ensnared
By a glance— do you not understand this but as a lover’s trait?
By the shore of the valley, I saw a dove
Extend my longing, as regret weighs down on me.
If you are longing for the cherished abode,
And you desire the inhabitants of the tents, then rejoice!
I point to her with my finger, as if I were
Directing towards the sacred ancient house.
Take from my blood for I am slain by her,
And my aim is but to plead and to indulge.
And do not kill her if you find a chance to do so,
But rather inquire how her blood became mine.
And tell her, O desire of my soul, for indeed,
I am the slain of passion; if you only would know!
Do not think I was slain by a sharp blade,
But rather, it was her arrows from high ground.
With refined expressions, my heart is akin to my passion,
Yet her eyes are veiled and her lips are enticing.
Stanzas from the Poem “The Caravan Lost Its Way After”
Yazid ibn Muawiya speaks regarding misdirection and straying from the righteous path:
And a caravan that lost its way after
They were pursued by shadows of the dark night.
They listened to a voice as we were a band,
Among us, a youth intoxicated, singing melodiously.
A coffee sparkled for them to brighten the distance,
As if its glow were the light of a blazing fire.
When we do drink it, they ignite the darkness,
And if it was mixed, they would wander and encompass.
I say to the group gathered by the goblet,
The call of passion sings with an inspiring tune.
Take a share of pleasure and delight,
For each one, even if the time is prolonged, will soon conclude.
And do not postpone the days of joy until tomorrow,
For perhaps tomorrow may bring what you do not expect.
Indeed, the world nearly tells its son,
“Take my pleasures, if only they could speak.”
Behold, the most joyful life is what it permits,
Through the vicissitudes of nights and the afflictions of time.
Stanzas from the Poem “I Gained from Her Hand What My Hand Could Not”
In admiration of his beloved, Yazid ibn Muawiya conveys his feelings:
I have gained from her hand what my hand never touched,
Etched on a wrist that made my skin weak.
It resembles the gentle touch of an ant on her fingers,
Or a garden adorned with jewels from the cloudburst.
It is as if she feared the arrows of her own glance,
So she adorned her arm with armor from delicate silk.
She laid out her tresses on her palm like a trap,
To seize my heart from the inside of my body.
And the bow of her brows strikes me from every corner,
Her glance darts like an arrow through my very core.
And her waist is slim, like mine against a bud,
Fragile, it echoes the sorrows housed within.
Were she seen by the sun, it would never rise again,
After seeing her once on any given day.
When I asked her for intimacy, she said, “Do not be deceived,”
“Whoever among us seeks connection dies from longing.”
How many have been slain by our love, unspoken,
But of that passion, they neither revealed nor promised.
I said, “I seek forgiveness from the Merciful for my slip,”
For the lover is seldom patient nor enduring.
Stanzas from the Poem “Defy the Critics and Ignore the Night”
Yazid ibn Muawiya encourages detachment from negative voices, not heeding their words:
Ignore the critics, and cast aside the night
As you endure in anguish stretched through the dark.
Have the stars not pierced its veil?
And have the obstacles not impeded its desire?
Until it bears fruit, or it is said, an ambitious man
Met the one who believes in all the ambitions.
There is no good in a man who lost his nobility,
Offering dominance to those who cannot guide.
Stanzas from the Poem “Take My Blood, O Lady of the Sash”
In this poem, Yazid ibn Muawiya devotes his verses to his beloved adorned with a sash:
Take my blood, O Lady of the Sash, for I
Saw with my own eyes the traces of my blood in her fingertips.
I am envious of her father and mother,
And of the movement of the miswak as it moves in the mouth.
I am envious of the garments she wears that embrace
Her soft form when clothed upon her smooth body.
And I envy the cups that meet her lips,
When she places them for sipping in a mixing place.
Take from my blood for I am slain by her,
And my intent is not to stifle your joy.
And do not kill her if you have the opportunity to do so,
But rather inquire how my blood became hers.
And say to her, “O desire of my soul, for I,”
“I am the slain in love and longing; had you only known!”
And do not think that I was slain by a sharp blade,
But rather, I was struck by her arrows from her heights.
She bears the wisdom of Luqman and the beauty of Yusuf,
With the melody of Dawood and the chastity of Mary.
I have the sorrow of Jacob and the loneliness of Yunus,
And the pain of Ayyub and the yearning of Adam.
Stanzas from the Poem “Behind the Houses of the Neighborhood, I Sing”
The poet Yazid ibn Muawiya expresses his longing for Hind:
Behind the houses of the neighborhood, I sing fervently,
And amongst them is Hind, a beautiful maid.
The desire of my heart remains in the company of her peers.
They have barred the openings of the houses with gazes,
And closed the eyes of everyone for whom her heart sheathes.
They ask, “Where did this young man come from?”
His origins either from Tihama or Najd.
In his speech, there is a nobility stemming from eloquence,
And from his demeanor flows honor and valor.
Stanzas from the Poem “If Only My Elders at Badr Had Witnessed”
Yazid ibn Muawiya lamented after the killing of Hussein ibn Ali:
If only my elders at Badr had witnessed
The grief of Khazraj upon the clash of swords,
When it fell upon the threshold of their tents
And the deaths poured around the devoted.
Then they danced in that moment like the scurrying of
The jackals across the mountains.
We then slayed half of their elite,
And we countered with a mirroring stance at Badr.
Let us not blame ourselves but struggle against the noble,
For if we were to have charged again, we would have prevailed.
With the swords of India raising high above their heads,
They would cool our anger and heal our rage.
Stanzas from the Poem “Gathering Your Eyelids from Health and Illness”
In reflection on longing and the pain of love after separation, Yazid ibn Muawiya speaks:
Gathering your eyelids from the dualities of health and sickness,
Do not spill the blood from my eyes due to our separation.
Your gesture from you offers me comfort,
And through the clarity of the morning after separation, I am found.
The attachment of my heart to you causes it ache,
Let the precious coin be thankful for its untroubled state.
Embers roared in water, and the fire died down; still,
The hidden flame kept its power without interruption.
And I have not forgotten, nor will I ever forget her adornments,
For my memories burn brighter than flames among the witnesses.
Until the seamless embrace fell upon her out of wonder,
And the body’s bond unraveled into the darkness.
And I continued to kiss her eyes; it was a wonder,
That I should diminish, yet she will still be our blood.
Stanzas from the Poem “And a Speaker When I Compared Her Face”
In lyrical expressions, Yazid ibn Muawiya reflects on love and affection:
And a speaker told me when I compared her face
To the moon of the night, that it was a narrow critique.
To compare with the moon shows a diminishment,
But I am not the first to be criticized in this way.
Have you not seen that the moon at its fullest,
When it reaches its peak comparison becomes a struggle?
So there is no honor in comparing my smile to that of the moon,
For with magic, my desire haunts the night.
Stanzas from the Poem “Oh, My Companion for Wonder”
Yazid ibn Muawiya weaves verses on the topic of wine:
Oh, my companion for wonder,
I called you, yet you did not respond.
To the singers of joy and ecstasy,
And to wine and music, that imbues pleasure.
To be crowned with dignity,
And amongst them the one who captured your heart without repentance.
Stanzas from the Poem “Zainab Knocked on You while the Caravan Lies in the Camp”
In this poem, Yazid ibn Muawiya expresses sentiments of love:
Zainab knocked on you while the caravan lay in the camp,
In the embrace of the wells flowing forth.
At the junction of the two banners, it was seen fading after
The heavens leaned down, and the scorpion accompanied.
Thus, a greeting and safety for her vision,
And with that greeting and safety comes welcome!
How have you guided, and who directed you, whilst between us
There is a barrier in the heights, and a lookout here.
And I am informed that your kinfolk desire to keep you away,
From me; my family dotes on and longs for you more.
Have I not got companions, if you choose to distance me?
They embrace me; within them, they console.
My reason fades when I succumb to grief,
To have a mind by which I exist and a heart that battles.
I am ‘Abd al-Muttalib’s son, and my birthplace
Is in the plain of Mecca and another in Yathrib.
And to Abu Sufyan my lineage does extend;
Who among us could challenge my birthright?
Should a tribe elevate to the skies,
Then, having risen, I too shall not be deterred.
Stanzas from the Poem “I Wish My Elders at Badr Had Witnessed”
Yazid ibn Muawiya mourned the loss after Hussein’s martyrdom:
I wish my elders at Badr had beheld
The grief in Khazraj from the clash of blood.
When it poured out in the courtyard of the tents,
And the death toll soared around them by the sacred.
They danced there in a way like shadowy wraiths
Amongst the hills beneath the crescent’s guise.
You have killed many of their leaders,
In our discussion of the Badr day.
Not blaming myself, except that we,
Would have triumphed if given another chance.
The swords of India strike down upon their crowns,
Calming the rage and cooling the heat.
Stanzas from the Poem “Recollect Your Eyelids in Sickness and Wholeness”
Yazid ibn Muawiya, yearning after separation, articulates:
In gathering your eyelids, from sickness and healing,
Let none spill out from my eyes from the grief of distance.
Your signal symbolizes my distress,
While the morning guides the farewell demeanor.
The affliction binds my heart close to yours,
Appreciate the worth of the precious unbroken line.
Embers die in water and hold back the flame’s warmth,
The fire in water stays yet does not evaporate.
Nor will I forget nor let anything fade of your furniture,
As the memories shine brighter than the flame in a crowd.
Until the weeping turns from amazement surprise,
And the gown of letters unravels in the night.
While I continue to kiss their eyes, behold dear friend,
To discover I lessen the torch; that blood encapsulates me.