Chinese and Arabian Literature - E. Wilson - The Search For Mecca

6o SELECTIONS FROM ARABIAN POETRY
To each are different feelings given,
This shghts, and that regards his brother;
'Tis ours to Hve—thanks to kind heav'n
Hating and hated by each other.
ON HIS FRIENDS
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—
—
;
Alfadhel Ibn Alabas.
With conscious pride I view the band
Of faithful friends that round me stand,
With pride exult that I alone
Can join these scatter'd gems in one:
For they're a wreath of pearls, and I
The silken cord on which they lie.
'Tis mine their inmost souls to see,
Unlock'd is every heart to me,
To me they cling, on me they rest.
And I've a place in every breast:
For they're a wreath of pearls, and I
The silken cord on which they lie.
ON TEMPERS
Meskin Aldaramy.
Yes, Leila, I swore by the fire of thine eyes,
I ne'er could a sweetness unvaried endure
The bubbles of spirit, that sparkling arise,
Forbid life to stagnate and render it pure.
But yet, my dear maid, tho' thy spirit's my pride,
I'd wish for some sweetness to temper the bowl
If life be ne'er suffer'd to rest or subside.
It may not be flat, but I fear 'twill be foul.
Nabcgat Beni Jaid.
' These lines are also from the TTamasa. the fortieth year of the Hegira, aged one
' There have been several Arabian hundred and twenty, he must have been
poets of the name of Nabegat. The fourscore at the promulgation of Islamauthor
of these verses was descended ism; he, however, declared himself an
from the family of Jaid. As he died in early convert to the new faith.
;