Romantic Poetry
The themes of Arabic poetry have evolved significantly over different eras and political circumstances; however, romantic poetry has consistently remained a prominent feature throughout all periods of Arabic literature. It has maintained the essence of romantic overture, despite the diversity in principal subjects within the poems.
Most Beautiful Expressions of Romance
Below are some of the finest romantic poems:
Poesies of Al-Walid ibn Yazid
- Her face appeared like the moon’s allure … Illuminating on my lips like a well-tended vine.
One of her hands offers me the sweetest wine … Like the blush of her cheek, tinged with modesty.
Then she took charge and boldly said … While the sun of separation still has not set.
Do not depart, for you have left me with no skin … Which I can use to say goodbye to a departing one.
Nor from slumber, has my imagination escaped … And never from tears do I mourn for the ruins.
- So fill my cups with wine and sing to me … Of Sulayma and Al-Rabab, indulge me in delight.
And beware of mentioning Al-Amiriya; for I … Am envious of her from the lips of the speaker.
I envy the cups that kiss her lips … When she places them where kisses do all belong.
- You have been greeted by Zaynab, while the mounts are at rest … Beneath the southern shade, where nectar drips.
By the double banners, here, after the … Stars have twinkled and the scorpion passed.
So greetings and peace to her shadow … And with greetings and peace, a warm welcome!
How were you guided? Who led you between us … When a barrier, like a mountain, lies between?
And you said your people prevent you, with desire … From me, while mine yearn for you, much more.
Or do I not have friends if you forsake me … Who would embrace me, and in their midst, I find solace?
My determination refuses to yield to yearning … A mind through which I live, and a heart that is fickle.
And I am the son of Zamzam, from the sacred place … The valley of Makkah, and the settlement of Yathrib.
To Abu Sufyan, my lineage is traced … Who else can share my bonds if I am to be remembered?
If a living being were to rise above the tribe … In the heavens of kinship, I would not be hidden.
- She has acquired through her hands what my hands could not … A mark on her wrist that has weakened my skin.
Like the soft steps of ants on her fingers … Or a garden adorned by clouds with coolness.
And the arch of her brow is from every side … While the arrows from her gaze pierce my very essence.
She stretched her charms from her hand, a trap … Catching my heart within my own being.
If a woman, were the sun to witness her beauty … It would remain hidden after gazing upon her once.
I asked her for connection, she claimed, “Do not deceive us … Anyone who craves our union will perish from pain.”
How many of our beloved lie dead from love … Dying in remorse, yet never revealing nor returning.
I replied: “I seek forgiveness from the Merciful … Indeed the lover is often of little patience and fortitude.”
She left me in despair, while saying … “Consider the actions of the gazelle upon the lion.”
She said: “A delicate vision visited me yet left … By God, describe him without lessening or exaggeration.”
He said: “I left him, should he die of thirst … And I said, ‘Cease from approaching water, and he will not drink.’”
She responded: “You spoke true; loyalty in love is his virtue … O cold breeze, that my beloved spoke of as it rests upon my heart.”
She inquired about my fate, and was told … “He has not a breath left … And her hand felt upon it gently.”
She poured pearls from her jasmine, and watered … Roses, biting down on the grapes in the coolness.
And she sang with the language of her essence, saying … “Without anger, nor delay, nor help from anyone.”
By God, no sister mourned for a brother’s loss … As I grieved for him, nor did a mother for her child.
If they envy me for my death, alas my sorrow … Even in death, I am not free from envy.
Poetry of Jamil Buthayna
- The clan of Buthayna gathered at the farewell … Leaving your heart unguarded, unlike before.
Oh what a sight, and the hustle of the caravan … Grieves me when distance separates us in the meadows.
And what a bond has captured my senses … As the gambler secures his stakes.
I desire her salvation, and she seeks my end … Thus I am torn between salvation and my death!
By your father’s life, you shall not find my promise … As you would in true affection and compassion.
If you had sent for me to seek my heart … Your messenger would have arrived swiftly like the wind.
- Buthayna claimed, upon seeing … A variety of dazzling poetry.
You have matured, Jamil, while youth has faded … I replied: “Buthayna, would you not shorten this sorrow.”
Will you forget the days we passed in joy … And those days filled with true hearts?
Did you not glimpse me once … On those nights, when we were at Dhiy Jahwar?
On those nights, you were our neighbors … Do you not recall? Indeed, remember!
When I was youthful, with fresh beauty … I would pull up the cloak with a waistcloth tied around me.
And if you reproved me like the wing of a raven … You embellished yourself with musk and amber.
This has changed, as you have seen … Time has transformed into a disgraceful memory.
And you have been like the pearl of the martyrs … Bathed in the waters of your youth, not once have I seen you.
We are neighbors, our dwellings as one … So how could I have aged and yet you remain youthful?
- Visit Buthayna; for the beloved is to be visited … Verily, a visit is easy for the lover.
For the foregone happiness has changed our affairs … And our freedom became a fate forced upon us.
Indeed, when I departed she was sad … Complaining to me about her longing, as the patient does.
She said: “Spend the night with me, I adore you … To share my troubles, for that is easy.”
Her beautiful lips are like a gleaming pearl … Whose essence cascades like strands of poetry.
Her body is fashioned in a delicate manner … Flowing with rounded features, so gloriously crafted.
Neither her beauty is beauty, nor her allure is mere grace … She is dignity itself, and her presence commands respect.
Indeed, the tongue speaks of her, while the heart is athirst … And thoughts reflect her, in every essence.
And if you reciprocate the kindness of my affection … Then, my dear Buthayna, I am deserving of it.
Poetry of Imru’ al-Qais
- A rainstorm has fallen upon the land … It wraps the ground with its embrace.
It releases affection whenever it blossoms … And hides its beauty whenever it fairs.
And you see the wild lizard, rapid and clever … Following behind as it elegantly slinks.
And you see the branchy trees flourishing … As if heads had been severed while adorned in veils.
For a while, then another tempest has come … Poured down, soaking us like deep despair.
She tossed her date pits, and then in turn … The south wind shall burst forth, a revelation awaited.
So abundant that it choked the air … Extending the tents, even they witness the rain.
- O Hind, do not restore to him … What he is meant to despise and disdain.
She is adorned between her joints … Desiring the forest’s allure and the garden’s fragrance.
Thus, may she place within her feet the depth … To warn death that it may not trouble her.
And I am no mere whimsy in my retreat … Nor am I a haughty quarry, cowardly behind.
I am no pompous fool, should anyone … Who is being scorned even care to plead.
And I have told myself, this youth … With dreams yet unbroken, you must claim.
- Alas for Hind, after a people … Who were the saviors, yet found no mercy.
And their elder was defied through the strength of their kin … While the punishments had no restraint over them.
And it cost them dearly, they failed … Had they only been able to shield the one in need.
Poetry of Bashar ibn Burd
- O beloved, I do not name you … For I have a different title for you, in every mention.
I fear for you, from the envious neighbor … Or the arrow of jealousy aiming both you and me.
If it were not for the onlookers when I bid farewell … I would have kissed your lips and said: “My soul is yours!”
O the sweetest in essence, with a taste unparalleled … Only the testimony of the edges of sweet candy would suffice.
You visited us but once, in a lifetime … So come back, do not make it a rare occurrence!
By God’s mercy, settle down in our homes … For I am fulfilled with the fragrance of paradise that comes from you.
Indeed, he who left, blessed in his bounty … Is a grasp that holds your soul, or an offering you share.
And if you could grant us a day to spend … You will have breathed life into a soul, from your efforts.
- I yearn for the love for Abid’s tribe … For their hearts harbor voices contradicting my heart.
I said: Leave my heart to its acceptance and choosing … For the heart, not the eye, discerns truly.
And the eyes do not catch sight where love dwells … No ear hears but the heart must respond.
And the beauty lies in all beauty, calling to youth … Creating harmony between love and a longing soul.
- Do you know, beyond love, what truly lies … That draws you near, while love itself repels me?
O dear gazelle, tell the fallen … What a sound she makes, that haunts my waking dreams.
Alas for me, and alas for my yearning … Her memories grow closer, yet distance me.
For her image haunts me, brings me havoc … Caught in a drunken dream of affection.
- From the renowned lover … To the heartless one.
Peace be upon you, O the Exalted One … A blessing upon your face, my love.
As for what comes next, O my joy … You alone are the desire of my heart.
And, O soul that resides … Between my sides, will you ever gain comfort?
I have denied you, O Abid … Seeking cruelty in your words.
Do I not have any fault in actions … That I may call to account on my part?
Neither in the east nor in the west … Is there any other like you who captivates my heart.
Today, I betroth only you … Both in earnestness and in jest.
Poetry of Al-Buhturi
- I kissed her from afar, she turned away in wrath … As it became obvious her pride and shame.
And she wiped her cheek from my kiss and walked away … As though she were slightly intoxicated or touched by madness.
- Love has come upon me as a servant without price … Should others betray you, I would never forsake nor abandon.
What for love, when God took dominion over my blood … Enforcing others to govern my soul and my flesh.
What is permissible for love if love had deprived me … Of patience and denied my eyelids to rest?
- Had there been no love in my heart … Nor fears of separation’s torment!
I would not have dressed in submission for those … Whom I stray to, nor would I turn to excuses.
He provoked my patience, joking with it … And that enraged him without my awareness.
Patience has led me to her abandonment … What would it have cost for me to wait?
Poetry of Abu Tammam
- Your essence is akin to a whisper, O beloved … Until when shall the noise of your words cease?
And the most repugnant thing to whom I complain is love … Is the one who finds solace only in reproach.
For the faces of delight appeared openly … Since our first days have turned away in sorrow.
If you desire to see patience that has been tested … Observe how the remnants of separation lie.
It is as if tears did come forth and changed … Our joy, the day they departed, as they descended.
Would that you could see them and observe our condition … In the grip of parting, our cries resound.
From the fiery anguish echoed by division … A heart that bore bananas within the palm of resentment.
And love burrows deep, emblazoned within our chests … An eye that cannot hide its weariness from longing.
- We did not remember such weeping from yearning … As the tears manifested in the beloved’s form.
So cease the rebuke, for love that is genuine … Should the companion differ from the companion.
And let the eyelids weep as pearls fall … In tears of separation that don’t abide comfort.
Indeed, whoever is ungrateful to their parents is cursed … And whoever deserts a home steeped in loyalty.
So lead the camels, dropping their saddles … Into the elegant places where elegance is reputed.
If the experience of elation were not shared by … Those who have mitigated our passion, they would not remedy our bitterness.
Poetry of Jarir
- The beloved departed, and though I might have wished it within … They cut the bonds of connection, leaving us shattered.
O dwellings, how I long for you, no alternative exists … My home is the home; there are no neighbors in our circle.
I was within the wake of the caravan in joy … Alarmed by the dread of separation, sorrow dwells.
O Lord of the despondent if I were to lament for him … There exists another with joy from our never-ending alliance.
Had you known our burdens, you would have wished for us … Or have you heard the weeping of my heart?
Like the owner of waves when his ship is tossed … He calls upon Allah’s comfort keeping secrets with clarity.
O you on horseback, leading the steeds … Convey our greetings; your load should speak for us.
Convey our messages, close by; don’t let them linger … Upon donkeys that carry the bruise of grief.
As we will speak once you reach our desires … Most definitely you are worthy of that trust.
Extend peace to the people residing in the depths … It is far beyond any salty ocean allocated to them.
I would love to have found solace … Therefore, through mutual bonds would we be entangled … In the purest connection.
Oh, that this heart enters the one who heals it … Or a drinking companion, poured with the flow of joy.
Or at least she may not have bound us through … The treachery of friendship when hearts were cast aside.
Did you not hesitate to ponder over what you do to us … O dearest person, the day shall return.
She said: “Would you not come to us if you were to leave … And I see nothing that would keep you not from meeting?
O dear! What goods do you offer me … A guest for you to cherish, gentle soul.
I have hitherto been a lover of delights … However, the pleas of the parted are an eternal pain of sorrows.
O blessed mother, may God pardon you … Return to me my heart which once was.
Are you not the fairest of those who tread on soles … O you who surpass mankind, person amongst those waiting!
- Tomorrow, at the gathering, we shall resolve the matter … I swear that our matters will not be resolved tomorrow.
If the farewell has split us apart … While misfortunes strive to disperse us away.
And the thick breastplated walls call out to me … Are indeed empty. I wish I could sing…
Indeed I was led by love for Mawiyah’s hours … And no other could bring me down more.
I envy the visitors among the gracious … For I had been one, an envious one indeed.
I count for the matters to come if my travels shall take me … Both catching angels, and unwinding to the sweet scent of drink.
The fabric that once adorned me with thin frills … And the shape itself, over which such beauty unfolds.
Alas! the short ones have upheld their promises … And cast forth oaths—elling them to resync and forge quickly.