Love
They left me at al-Uthayl and an-Naqá shedding tears and…
Translated by Reynold A. Nicholson (1911) · From The Tarjuman al-Ashwaq (Nicholson, 1911)
They left me at al-Uthayl and an-Naqá shedding tears and complaining of the fire (that consumed me).
My father be the ransom of him for whose sake I melted with anguish! My father be the ransom of him for whose sake I died of fear!
The blush of shame on his cheek is the whiteness of dawn conversing with the redness of eve.
Patience decamped and grief pitched tents, and I lie prostrate between these two.
Who will compose my distracted thoughts? Who will relieve my pain? Guide me to him! Who will ease my sorrow? Who will help a passionate lover?
Whenever I keep secret the torments of desire, my tears betray the flame within and the sleeplessness.
And whenever I say, 'Give me one look!' the answer is, 'Thou art not hindered but for pity's sake.'
It cannot be that one look from them will avail thee. Is it aught but the glimpse of a levin that flashed?
I am not forgetting the time when the camel-driver, wishing for separation and seeking al-Abraq, urged them on.
The ravens of separation croaked at them—may God not preserve a raven that croaked!
The raven of separation is only a camel which carried away the loved ones with a swift wide-stepping pace.
Codex Note
Tarjuman al-Ashwaq, poem 15
Cite this poem
MLA
al-Arabi, Ibn. “They left me at al-Uthayl and an-Naqá shedding tears and….” Translated by Reynold A. Nicholson. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/ibn-arabi/14/.
Chicago
al-Arabi, Ibn. “They left me at al-Uthayl and an-Naqá shedding tears and….” Translated by Reynold A. Nicholson. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/ibn-arabi/14/.
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