From the DIWAN IFRIKIYA anthology, a poet of the early glorious days of al-Andalus (given the limits of blog formatting & text width, the final layout will be slightly different to indicate the hemistiches of the original Arabic lines):<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ibn Darradj al-Qastalli (\u2018Umar Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Sulayman ibn Darradj al-Qastalli)<\/strong> (958-1030)<\/p>\n
Ode\u00a0 In praise of Kha\u00efran al-\u2018Amiri, Emir of Almeria (Extract)<\/strong><\/p>\n
In the folds of the stranger\u2019s rags
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0many strange things are hidden
\nthings that have long before settled
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0in the depths of his hurt heart
\nkindling an old fire darkens
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0night despite its blaze \u2014
\nif the sea should dry up in the heat
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0he\u2019ll fill it again with disconsolate tears
\nand when the sea winds die down
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0low moans remind us of those we love
\nand will say \u2014 as the sea waves rise and fall
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0amid the immensity of dark misery:
\nWill we survive or will we have
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0but the sea as a grave and water as a shroud?
\nSuppose we spotted land from far away
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0shall we find refuge there and solace from old friends?
\nDeath took advantage of us being far from home
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0to beguile and seduce us.
\nThat homeland now out of reach has turned into rubble
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0under time\u2019s weight or injustice\u2019s swords
\nas old friends separated by distance
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0became death\u2019s friends, land and sea \u2014
\ntheir women mounted on wandering camels
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0and roaming desert lands.
\nO Lord! What happened to their caravan?
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Are they now forced into exile on both land and sea?
\nLike orbiting planets they have become
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0though driven by reins & bridles, anchors & sails.
\nWhen the Maghribian land exiled me
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0and dear friends rejected me
\nthe land of Iraq warmly welcomed me
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0and the good news reached Khorassan.
\nThe land that banished me is a backward land
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0and the life that broke its word to me is a traitor!
\nPeace on brothers from a hopeless brother
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I wish those times \u2013 when I had brothers \u2013 would return!
\nNo road would now take me to my wife\u2019s
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0as separation and oblivion had erased all tracks!<\/p>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Translated by Fetah Chenni & P.J.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
(to be continued tomorrow, with another ode & a commentary)<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
From the DIWAN IFRIKIYA anthology, a poet of the early glorious days of al-Andalus (given the limits of blog formatting & text width, the final layout will be slightly different to indicate the hemistiches...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,91,103,1],"tags":[1022,1023,1021],"class_list":["post-6585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arab-culture","category-poetry","category-translation","category-uncategorized","tag-al-andalus","tag-diwan-ifrikiya","tag-ibn-darradj-al-qastalli"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6585"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6585\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6607,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6585\/revisions\/6607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}