Also, given the compact and rich nature of some Arabic formulations, I decided to loosen the verse structure, and take up as much space on the page as a line needed to carry its meaning into the English language | How useless this firewood my tribesmen cut! There has yet to be a complete translation of the Arabic Majnoon poems compiled by al-Walibi, though a handful have been translated in isolation |
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Oh night—how often is it that I run to your black face with pressing need only to forget when I turn to you for what I came | I did it after the riverbeds of his friendships had dried up |
The further back I crane my neck the more fiercely appears her light to me.
16May God not keep you far from me, oh father | I know that every soul of Death does drink |
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Have they not witnessed my oath to Laila? I am only a desperate man enfolding the pillars of houses with my weak arms | I said to her Be my sacrifice, for the dawn of coming day I will walk as yesterday by you I was carried |
What God has meted out for us, I claim no knowledge.
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