Al-Mutanabbi المتنبي
poet · Iraq and Syria in Abbasid times · 915–965
A poet counted as the summit of Arabic poetry. He drifted from court to court looking for patrons and was a great boaster. He was killed in an ambush on the road.
Posts
950s · Recited at his rivals before the ruler of Aleppo
I am the one whose writing the blind man has seen, whose words have made the deaf man hear. I sleep with full eyelids, untroubled by my stray verses, while people sit up all night quarrelling over them.
أنا الذي نظر الأعمى إلى أدبي
وأسمعت كلماتي من به صمم
أنام ملء جفوني عن شواردها
ويسهر الخلق جراها ويختصمDivan of al-Mutanabbi
950s
The horse, the night and the desert know me, and the sword, the spear, the paper and the pen.
الخيل والليل والبيداء تعرفني
والسيف والرمح والقرطاس والقلمDivan of al-Mutanabbi, the same poem
mid-10th century
Not everything a man wishes for does he attain. The winds blow where the ships would not have them.
ما كل ما يتمنى المرء يدركه
تجري الرياح بما لا تشتهي السفنDivan of al-Mutanabbi
962 · Slipping out of Egypt on the eve of the feast, his hopes there unfulfilled
Feast day, in what state have you come back, feast day? As things were before, or with something new in you? As for those I love, the desert lies between us. If only there were desert beyond desert between me and you.
عيد بأية حال عدت يا عيد
بما مضى أم لأمر فيك تجديد
أما الاحبة فالبيداء دونهم
فليت دونك بيدا دونها بيدDivan of al-Mutanabbi
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