Romantic Verses from the Abbasid Era
- The poet Abu Nuwas states:
If you depart from me with the sweet taunt,
Well-spoken is the mention of the beloved.
For I do not consider the scorn towards you,
If you acted with faults among the sins.
And if I were to live, I can see gardens,
Even if they were stinted in the held lot,
Draped elegantly in the garment of beauty,
Reaping, without effort, the fruits of hearts.
- He also mentions:
Sing out, my dear, from the burdens of worry,
And indulge the times with the daughter of the vine.
Embrace life in its freshness,
Do not recall past traces of grief.
From coffee that is beautified by age,
It’s like an old woman above the decades.
A worldly being that has passed her youth,
And nostalgia has intermingled her epochs.
It is as if, in its glass, there is a flame,
That burns without image or smoke.
And when it is poured from gold,
If water flows through its sides,
It stirs the hidden longings.
And it trembles beneath, competing with it,
And then it concludes, shedding like a seed.
Oh, its beauty from the hand of one soft yet strong,
Its eyelids beckon you towards thoughts of trouble.
Remember the morning of wine, and name it,
Not with the dawn of wars and calamities.
Better than a position in a battlefield,
And the gallop of horses on the plains.
The shout of a liquor-bearer who has filled his goblet,
And the patience of one reluctant to confess his yearnings.
And the companion of a doe, if you rode with it,
Gifted you in between the approach and the rush.
- The poet Ibn Huyus declares:
Your description cannot be grasped,
For words cannot hold all your actions.
Thought has struck hard against the reproach of others,
In you, minds are bewildered and every tongue falters.
And praise cannot increase its esteem of you;
How can it, when your glory is evident as proof?
You have surpassed what ambitions could reach,
And ideals have not strived to accomplish.
And your virtue has made its mark in time,
Remaining when the hills of Aben have crumbled.
You once were among the rarest of excellences,
But now you have reached the heart’s depth.
He granted the subjects their request from his justice;
A king among them, caring and compassionate.
He slumbers yet never forgets his duties,
Count him among the awake men in faith.
When they plead and supplicate, they ask not for,
Except the everlasting glory of this sovereign.
This Levant, once a reward for the breakers,
At times has become more precious than a veil.
Romantic Verses from the Ayyubid Era
- The poet Al-Lawah asserts:
And the beauty of Layla is that Layla,
Is the ultimate goal of my desires, with valleys untraveled.
Were it not for the love of Layla, I would not have been cast,
Into the land of the Hejaz.
I suffice in my love for Layla,
Even if dear ones are scarce or distant.
I long for closeness and separation,
And I shall not hear in grief any condolences.
It is within love’s rights that it should not,
Be judged by the undertaker’s rules.
So my patience towards you, O Layla, exists,
And my solace reduces to nostalgia.
Does a heart, once enamored, ever forget,
With the mark of love, the mark of obsession?
I remembered you at parting, and my tears overflowed,
Grief bequeathed unto me the sickness of longing.
Your love commands me in nearness and distance,
It challenges me intensely with sorrows.
And your memory shakes me in empty places,
And among the throngs, any movement stirs me.
And when I kissed you, my condition changed,
And my body was comforted by that embrace.
Your connection returned to me the vitality of my youth,
And the sweetness of your love, never to be erased.
- The poet Bulbul Al-Gharam Al-Hajri states:
O you who captivated the lovers with your beauty,
When you gaze with playful eyes,
I am consumed, my hands restraining me,
From release, while the time drags on.
The stars keep me awake in your night,
And longing has become my friend.
O my critic of this love,
Wait; do not hastily judge it.
Have you seen beneath the veil of decorum,
A cheek deep and fragrant with musk?
The glance is like a sharp blade to my heart,
When your essence calls, the shapeliness captivates.
Each moment has its charm, and every shade
Dictates my life, consumed by your passion.
The trials began when you turned away,
While my spirit remains weary from waiting,
What was my expectation in this love,
When my heart has been deceived by it.
Romantic Verses from the Mamluk Era
- The poet Ibn Malek Al-Hamawi expresses:
O dwellers of the sanctuary and the Arab tribe,
Perhaps with a glance, you will find the longing soul,
A passionate heart that remains captive to your love,
Crying freely, unrestrained, day by day.
The bitterness of your absence has softened my state,
Until my heart succumbed to humiliation.
Indeed, in my life, I wish to see your path,
So that my eyes overflow upon the road.
How delightful is it, my cry, heralding the morning,
Where youth was untouched by reproach.
I was not startled by the events of the nights,
Save by the illusions that only exist.
O you who have come down into the depths of my soul,
Is there a path to patience amidst your presence?
Your flames ignite within my chest,
And the heartbeat echoes with the rhythms of my soul;
How can I forget, while your love is in my heart,
Embedded in my joints and veins?
Within this bond bound by periods,
And within love, you possess rights.
Do not stray from the affection, as I remain,
Confident in a bond of loyalty.
- The poet Ibn Nabata Al-Masri remarks:
I abandoned flirting from the outset,
And transformed it into a hymn of praise.
The eye whispered to me, “This is the fare,”
How joyous it is amidst my darkness!
Every hand reaching towards it, renowned,
In every valley and in every gathering.
No words could steal my praise for him;
Far be it from severing that connection.
I remind my lord of all I spoke in verses,
Wandering through the wilderness,
I entrusted my heart, filled with grief,
And no place remains to increase its load.
Until I was enchanted by the sweetness of cotton candy,
Which found a space in my heart.
Romantic Verses from the Modern Era
- The poet Farouk Aweda declares:
I made you the sanctuary on earth where people come,
From every corner of the world.
I crafted your love as a song for life,
Dancing dreamily like a ray of light.
How often have my eyes held you with passion,
And how many times have I embraced you with longing?
And how your shadows have roamed my heart,
In your eyes, I have sailed my sails.
I returned to my sanctuary and found a grave,
With flowers around it, where serpents play.
I worshipped you in love for a long time,
And now I escape from my despair.
- The poet Mahmoud Darwish expresses:
I asked you: Shake the earth’s most beautiful hand,
A branch of time!
To drop the leaves of what was and what is,
And in a twinkling, give birth to twins:
An angel and a poet!
We know how the ashes return to flame,
If the lovers confess!
My apple! Ah, sweetheart, a forbidden treat,
If your eyes understood my wandering and silence!
I, strangely, how do the winds complain,
Of my permanence beside you? And you,
You are the eternity of wine in my voice,
And the flavor of myths and the earth… you are!
Why does a star travel on a tangerine,
And drink, drink, drink until it’s intoxicated?
If you are between my hands,
Your melody shatters, and the sound of your calls!
Why do I love you?
How do your charms break my tranquility?
And wear my breeze on your lips,
So I realize in a moment,
That the night is a pillow,
And that the moon
Is beautiful like the blossoming rose,
And I am handsome… because of you!