Saturday, February 1, 2014

The man burdened with desire Abu Nuwas حامل الهوى أبو نواس


أبو نواس
حامل الهوى تعب يستخفّه الطّرب
إن بكى فحق له ليس ما به لعب
كلّما انْقضى سبب مِنْكِ عاد لي سبب
تضْحكين لاهية والمحبّ ينتحب
تعْجبين مِنْ سقمي صحّتي هي العجب


Abu Nuwas
The man burdened with desire is undone, he is beside himself with joy.
If he bawls then it is his due, what he bears within himself is no joke.
Each time a justification expires, you provide me with another.
You laugh lightly, while the lover is wailing.
You´re amazed at my emaciation, my wellness is the wonder.


translated into English by Mark Westergreen

line 2 follows the variant reading fa-khaqqa for yakhiqqu
 v.; ´Abd al-Hamid´s edition of Ibn Khallikan (Cairo, 1367/1948), I, 374 
and overcomes the grammatical irregularity of an imperfect following a perfect in the apodosis of a conditional sentence.
Ibn Khallikan states that this was this first poem composed by Abu Nuwas
A.J Arberry Arabic Poetry a Primer for Students

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