Imitations of Old Arabic Poetry

Miscellaneous Amatory Preludes

(In the style of nasíb, the beginning section of the old qasida.)

(I)

Alas, I am slain, and by bút óne árrow.

Slender the shaft of her, bud-barbed, and gently feather'd,

yet I lie in a mercury sweat  as were it poisoned.

No there  wás nó vénom  in  one  so  young:

this sickness  springs from the cure of it,

from the baneful breath of the blamers.

(II)

She gazed, silently laughing, and her eyes shot arrows,

striking the sight from my eyelids, left me love-blinded.

Now in a daze I blink to recall her after-image:

I pine for a sylph, the mirage of an archer.

(III)

Speak, stones, who like me have felt the press of her!

Whisper me whither  her left foot wended.

Enlighten the eyes  of one by love blinded,

for I trek but for her traces, and breathe but for the breath of her.


[Further reflections here.
Elucidation of (I)  here. ]

[FN] For another example of nervous, punchy rhythm, cf this, from Kipling:

Mine was the woman to me, darkling I found her:

Haling her  dumb from the camp,  held her and bound her.

-- Rudyard Kipling, “The First Chantey” (1896)