EL-ASMAÏY and El-MANSÛR.
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thee no recompense for it. Otherwise, we will bestow on thee the weight in money of that upon which it is written."
So el-Asmaïy recited this kasîdah:[1]
By the piping voice of the Bulbul, By water and by flowers,
By the glint of a twinkling eye, By thee, O my master,
My chieftain and my lord, The lover's heart is moved.
How often has enslaved me, The gazelle of Ukekeelee,[2]
From off whose cheek by a kiss, I have culled the blushing rose,
Saying, Kiss, O! kiss, O! kiss me. But she sped not to embrace me,
And cried, No. No. No, no; Then rose and quickly fled me.
To the caresses of this man, The maiden yielded tremblingly,
And crying cried a cry, Woe! ah woe! ah woe is me!—
—Lament not thus, I said, Rather reveal thy pearls.[3]
- ↑ I am sadly aware that the following translation of el-Asmaïy's kasîdah is utterly inadequate. I can only plead that rich and beautiful though our English language is, it lacks the intricate alliterative turns peculiar to the Arabic. Moreover, el-Asmaïy, who was the most celebrated philologer of his time, and was considered a complete master of the Arabic language, appears to have taken no little pains to render this poem (by means of those same alliterative turns) as difficult as possible. Any one on reading the original must acknowledge that had the Khalîfah been able to seize the full sense of the words alone on hearing them for the first time, his mental power would have been extraordinary—to have committed the lines to memory it would have been marvellous.
- ↑ With Arab writers and poets the gazelle is a favourite simile for a pretty woman. ʾUkekeelee
- ↑ A poetical way of saying, Laugh instead of crying.
