Love
Attar Within Vase of Crystal
Translated by E. J. W. Gibb (1882) · From Ottoman Poems (1882)
Attar within vase of crystal, such thy fair form silken-gowned;
And thy breast is gleaming water, where the bubbles clear abound:
Thou so bright none who may gaze upon thee on the earth is found;
Bold wert thou to cast the veil off, standing forth with garland crowned:
Not a doubt but woe and ruin all the wide world must confound!
Lures the heart thy gilded palace, points it to thy lips the way;
Eagerly the ear doth listen for the words thy rubies say;
Near thy hair the comb remaineth, I despairing far away;
Bites the comb, each curling ringlet, when it through thy locks doth stray:
Jealous at its sight, my heart's thread agonised goes curling round.
Ah! her face the rose, her shift rose-hued, her trousers red their shade;
With its flame burns us the fiery garb in which thou art arrayed.
Ne'er was born of Adam's children one like thee, O cruel maid!
Moon and Sun, in beauty's circle, at thy fairness stand dismayed:
Seems it thou the Sun for mother and the Moon for sire hast owned.
Captive bound in thy red fillet, grieve I through thy musky hair;
Prone I 'neath those golden anklets which thy silvern limbs do wear;
Think not I am like thy fillet, empty of thy grace, O fair!
Rather to the golden chain, which hangs thy cheek round, me compare:
In my sad heart pangs a thousand from thy glance's shafts are found.
Eyes with antimony darkened, hands with hinna crimson dyed;
Through these beauties vain and wanton like to thee was ne'er a bride.
Bows of poplar green, thy painted brows; thy glances shafts provide.
Poor Fuzûlî for thine eyes and eyebrows aye hath longing cried:
That the bird from bow and arrow flees not, well may all astound.
Codex Note
Mukhammes.
Cite this poem
MLA
Fuzuli. “Attar Within Vase of Crystal.” Translated by E. J. W. Gibb. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/fuzuli/8/.
Chicago
Fuzuli. “Attar Within Vase of Crystal.” Translated by E. J. W. Gibb. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/fuzuli/8/.
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