Love
Love is a complex set of emotions and feelings that one harbors for the beloved. It embodies joy and comfort when we are with those we love. Fundamentally, love is rooted in honesty, sacrifice, and loyalty, representing an intrinsic part of human nature. Throughout history, poets have masterfully articulated the essence of love. In this article, we will explore some of the most beautiful poetry dedicated to love.
Love Poetry by Abu al-Qasim al-Shabi
Sweet you are, like childhood and dreams,
Like melodies and a new morning,
Like a bright sky and a moonlit night,
Like a rose and the smile of a newborn.
What tenderness and beauty you possess,
With youth that breathes hope!
What purity that sends reverence
Into the heart of the troubled soul!
What grace that could almost make flowers bloom
From a stone’s stern exterior!
Who are you, if not Venus,
Strolling among mortals once more,
Restoring youth and sweet joy
To this somber, weary world?
Or perhaps an angel from paradise has come to earth
To revive the spirit of eternal peace!
What are you, if not a beautiful painting,
A creative genius from the art of existence?
In you lies the mystery and depth
And sacred beauty, revered and adored.
You, what are you? You are a dawn of magic
Unveiled to my heart.
In you, I see life illuminated in splendid beauty,
Revealing the secrets of eternity.
You are the spirit of spring, strutting through the world,
Making the glorious flowers sway,
And life intoxicated by perfume blows,
As existence resonates with the melodies.
Whenever my eyes catch sight of you walking,
With steps echoing like a hymn,
My heart flutters with the joy of life, and the blossoms flutter,
In the vast field of my empty years.
And my somber soul rejoices in love
And sings like a nightingale.
You revive within me what had perished,
In my once-happy but lost memories.
You are reconstructing in the ruins of my soul,
What has vanished in my distant past,
From aspirations toward beauty and art,
To that faraway space.
You instill tenderness of longing, dreams, and song,
And passion in my verses after I embraced
The gloom of my heart’s days, silencing my serenade.
Your eyes descend upon hearts, rendering them
Either wounded or fatally stricken.
I find myself longing for sleep at uninvited times,
Hoping for a dream encounter.
If it were not for love, no lover would feel humiliation on this earth,
Yet behold, lovers are respected, yet they remain humbled.
Transport your heart wherever you wish in love,
For true love belongs solely to the first beloved.
If you wish to experience all virtues,
They reside upon the face of the one you desire.
Do not wage war with your eyes against my heart,
For the weak can overpower the strong.
If my eyes behold your beauty approaching,
By your soul, I become intoxicating without drink!
The tears trace the promises on my cheeks,
Longing and passion dictating my every word.
I love you in two ways: as a lover,
And because you deserve every bit of that love.
I beheld a moon walking upon the earth,
And I have never seen a moon on earth walking.
They say separation is surely tomorrow,
I replied: it is but the death of my soul.
Before the parting tomorrow,
Pause and let us bid farewell before division dawns.
I love to the very soil you tread upon,
I embraced you until I thought my flame had extinguished.
Yet my fire ignites anew, and its fuel is your love.
To depart from this world without you
Shall remain a silent ache within me.
My soul pursues love down its paths until
Love flows like the spirit through the body.
I love you with a passion so profound that if released upon mankind,
Humankind would perish from sheer love’s intensity.
I surrendered as fate decreed, as fate pleased her.
“Victim to you?” she inquired, “How many of them!”
You are moving forth while I hold your heart in my hands,
Return my heart, and wherever you wish, proceed.
For I have a heart that aches in prolonged torment,
Yearning to meet its tormentor.
No ailment can equate to the pain of love,
Both outside and within, it’s a burden.
Her shade lingered over me, and wonder of wonders, the sun shielded me,
As the sun abandoned you until it was said love was unknown.
I visited you until it was said my patience was gone.
She said: “You are mad for your beloved,” to which I replied:
“Love transcends even the madness of fools.”
If I mixed poison with her kiss,
A single sip would set my heart ablaze.
Count my witnesses in your love; they are countless,
And the truest are my heart and my tears that pour.
I gaze into him while he remains oblivious,
Stealing unseen glances from him.
The moon in its path is my companion and yet,
It sometimes appears, only to fleetingly disappear.
Although her judgments are harsh upon me,
That tyranny is sweeter than fairness.
You have conquered my heart, and therein,
How did you possess that which holds you?
Tell the beloved how I can endure more without them,
While I am a traveler, yet my heart remains.
Punish me with everything but indifference,
For there is no agony like the sting of coldness.
For she has taken my heart captive in her love,
And my heart obeyed her; it never defied.
I yielded to her in love, humbled after my pride,
And every lover succumbs to their own beloved.
And I have known fire to guide me,
With your burning cheeks igniting every wandering heart.
Torture me as you wish, my heart, torture me,
For the agony of love is my highest aspiration.
A part of me has burned away in the fire of absence,
While another is immersed in tears.
The rose sacrificed itself out of envy for you,
And spilled its blood upon your cheeks.
Becoming accustomed to your absence is difficult,
Yet becoming used to your presence is even harder.
I have absorbed your essence into my skin,
Just as a drop of dew seeps into the earth.
Though I tried to forget you,
There lies a promise deep in my heart that recognizes you.
Love Poetry by Nizar Qabbani
I challenge…
Who amongst them has preceded me to your eyes, oh my lady,
Carrying the sun in their palms,
And garlands of jasmine?
I dare all those
Lost in madness and longing,
To love you in my own way, with my foolishness and madness.
I challenge…
The books and manuscripts of love,
From millennia past,
To find a single page
Where, oh my lady, they mentioned me.
I challenge you…
To discover a homeland as warm as my lips and a bed as cozy as my eyes.
I challenge them all
To write for you a love letter
As deep as my letters or come to you with a multitude,
With words as rich as mine and thoughts as profound.
Love Poetry by Al-Mutanabbi
I was never among those who let love enter their hearts,
But anyone who sees your gaze falls in love.
Has my love deceived me in thinking it will be my downfall,
And yet, regardless of your commands, the heart will obey?
It loves you as long as the heart lives, and if you die,
My echo will follow you into eternity.
You are bliss incarnate for my heart and anguish for it,
How could you bring both sweetness and bitterness to my soul?
How curious it is that lovers perish from love,
Yet the survival of lovers is a wonder.
Your love has rooted itself in my heart,
Like the pulse of life through my veins.
My friend, while we live, have you seen
A lover who shed tears for the killer before me?
If my heart were with me, I would choose none other than you,
Nor would I settle for anyone else in this love.
Oh, would this love know how to love just once,
To understand what the lover endures from the pain of separation!