Love Poetry

Bashar bin Burd was a classical poet of Persian origin. He lived during the Ummayid dynasty.

He says in a poem:

إِنَّ العيونَ التي في طرفِها حورٌ

قتلننا ثم لم يحيين قتلانا

يَصرَعنَ ذا اللُبَّ حَتّى لا حِراكَ بِهِ

وَهُنَّ أَضعَفُ خَلقِ اللَهِ أَركانا

لو كنتُ أعلمُ أَن الحُبَّ يقتلني

أعددتُ لي قبلَ أن ألقاكِ أكفانا

‘Her attractive eyes killed us,

and there was no one to bring back our dead [qatlaana].

She knocks out the wisdom of the intelligent one,

despite her weak physical build [arkaana].

Had we known that love would kill us,

we would have met you in our burial-shrouds [akfaana].’