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Kalil's description of the metre ramal, but for a kind of poetry which Ibn
Sidah calls mahzzil(emaciated) and gayr mutalif al-bind' (disproportionate
in construction).5
Ibn Sidah then quotes an example of ramal in this sense: the first line
of a poem by 'Abid b. al-'Abras which reads:
5 The translations are by Stoetzer: see Stoetzer, W., Theoryand Practicein ArabicMetrics,
Leiden, 1989, p. 67.
6
Dzwan (ed. M. Abfi 'l-Fal1 Ibrdhim), Cairo, 1958, 189-93. Except for vs. 1, which
reads "damCuhainstead of the "damc uhumd" of this version, I have followed his edition.
Compared to two identical versions, one given by Cheikho in his Shucard)al-Nasrdnfyafji
al-Jdhilfya, I, Cairo (reprint), 1982, 61-2, the other in Sharh Diwdn Imru' al-Qays (ed. Dar
$adir), Beirut, s.d., 159-60, some minor variants can be noted in vss. 3a, 6b, 7a, 9a + b.
lOa, 13a+b, 15a and 17a.
- v- 4 2
-1 0
foot 4
v -v^ - 21 9
v- -
^- 14 5
-, ^ <v- 8 2
^v vv^/- 2 0
foot 5
- v - 40 16
J u- 5 1
foot 6
-- 34 12
- -- 10 5
v - -- 1 0
at least each other's poetry. Imru' al-Qays may even have been a rawi
of CAbid.9 This can be ascertained by having a closer look at both poems.
cAb£d'selegy
The introduction is a lament to the desolateness of a very large region:
all the places that cAbid mentions are uninhabited, they are left to wild
animals and to Death: its former inhabitants have either been killed or
have died from disease or starvation (1-6a). Quite perfunctorily the poet
introduces himself as part of the same misery: his grey hair is a disgrace
(6b). His weeping eyes are first compared to a withered watersack, but
then more vivid images emerge: streams of water in wadis or in the shade
of palm-trees (7-10).
This first part is an 'atldl introduction, but mention of a love theme
(nasib) is missing. The poet seems to realize this, if line 11 is meant so
to be understood: "You are still young, they say, at least try to pretend
that you are young, by giving us a nasib; but in fact old age has made
me weary". In fact so weary, that for him there is nothing new and
nothing blissful in these dry and deserted places (12-13).
Lines 14-24 illustrate CAbid's view on the "condition humaine": all
the wealth you may gather will end in someone else's hands; all hope is
deceived; one may go for a short time and return, but the dead will never
return; anyone trying to become wealthy ultimately keeps nothing in his
hands; wealth may be gathered by the fool while the intelligent man is
deceived; if someone is not warned by Fate then people will not succeed
in doing so, even if they were to grab him by his clothes; hearts are whim-
sical organs, loved ones easily turn into haters; take things as they are
and try to make the best of it; man's behavior is unpredictable; there is
nothing to be expected from people, only from God; as long as a man
lives in lies (maybe: tries to deny these truths) he will live in punishment.
Nothing much to cheer you up. But then a new tune is set by "bal"
in line 25: once more the poet describes himself as the courageous man
he used to be, travelling through wadis that would frighten any man
(probably because one would loose sight of the surrounding area); there
are beasts of prey present judging from the sandgrouse feathers lying
around, his only companion a reliable camel. There follow comparisons
to the wild ass and the oryx bull (25-31).
"That was quite a time: I see myself sometimes on the horse that was
carrying me" (32).
9 See
Sezgin, F., GAS II, 123.
And now the poet comes to the point where he is really going to excel
in what he already proved to be good at: description (wasJ). He picks up
the theme of his well built horse again (33-34), and then compares it to
the eagle. The remaining part of the poem is a vivid, almost breathtaking
description of the eagle, hunting and catching a fox (35-45).
ing behind it. When he starts boasting-though only for a few verses
(25-27)-of his courageous ranging through dangerous wadis in the past,
he admits that his heart trembled, but only because of the sight of the
feathers lying there, indicating that animals of prey were in the vicinity.
Imru' al-Qays admits that he does not go through wadis without fear,
but this fear causes him to respect them; it does not make his heart
tremble.
Formally speaking the second part of this poem is still a part of the
opening section. It consists of a splendid and mature assessment by 'Abid
of the "condition humaine". In length and-to a limited extent-in
structure it counterbalances the 'atldalsection: the enumeration of proper
names is paralleled by a section of negative assessments of life that are,
so to speak, hammered in by their parallel construction (14-16). From 17
onward the same subject matter-futility, unreliability, vanity and
spleen-is structured in an unpredictable pattern of rhetorical questions,
statements and advice. This renders it all the more convincing as a genu-
ine interpretation of life as a mess.
Such negative judgments of life, constructed as parallels, may not be
uncommon: in a martiya by Januib (or: Rayta) bint al-Ijlan on her
brother CAmr Dui 'l-Kalb the opening section runs: 10
10 Riyd al-'Adab
fi Mardig ShawaCiral-CArab, Cheikho, L., Beirut, 1897, I, 75-9. A
slightly different version in: al-Sukkari, Sharh 'AshCdral-Hudalfyin, (ed. A.A. Farraj and
M.M. Shikir), Cairo, s.d., II, 578-81.
ushers in Layla, of whom we learn nothing except that the poets romantic
efforts towards her seem to have been unsuccessful. As has been said
before, v. 3a can hardly be considered as more than a minimal nasTb.
The interrelationship
If, from the evidence presented here, that is: comparable and unique
anomalies in the use of the same metre and the occurrence of "bor-
rowed" expressions, we may conclude that these two poems are inter-
related, the next step is to assess what this interrelationship means. In
order to do this, we first have to evaluate the personalities which express
themselves in these poems.
11 I prefer to interpret "qad" with the imperfect tense here as qad li 'I-taktfr as in
Reckendorf, ArabischeSyntax, Leipzig, 1921, 302: "qad )atlunu l-taCnata'l-najldaa, gar man-
chmal versetze ich einen breiten Stich", rather than taking it as an alternative to the past
continuous tense as in W. Wright's reference (A Grammarof the Arabic Language, Cam-
bridge ... (reprint) 1975, I, 286, z, footnote) to N6oldeke's Delectus: "qad lard in poetry
may stand for qad kuntu hard"; also in Fischer, W., Grammatik des klassischen Arabisch,
Wiesbaden, 1972, 95 Anm. 2. My reason for this is that qad 'aqta'u at this particular
passage is not as yet part of an enumeration of heroic deeds.
Authenticity
Together with Muf. LIV, by Muraqqish al-'Akbar, the two poems dis-
cussed above are identified by Lyall as being anomalous to the normal use
of metres in Arabic poetry.13 Noldeke, in a remark in Lyall's edition of
CAbid's Diwdn,'4 claims that the anomalies in the qasidas of CAbid and
12
Sezgin., F., GAS II, 123.
13 Lyall,
C.J., TheMufadIalfydt,
Oxford, 1918, II, XXV.
14 Lyall, C.J., TheDiwdnsof 'Abfdb. al-Abrasand 'Amirb. at-Tufayl,Leiden/London,
1913, 11 n.D (Arabic text).
TRANSLATIONS
(Passages marked with an * in the qasidaof CAbid have been taken from
Lyall's translation). 16
Imru' al-Qays
1. Your eyes are streaming with tears
as though their tear-ducts are rivulets,
2. Or a streamlet under the shade of date-palms
the water running from under them,
3. for the clan of Layla; where is Layla?
The best you wished for will not be given.
4. Many a time I travel through a country being empty,
my only companion a well built, swift camel,
16 In one
passage I totally disagree with Lyall: it is unclear to me why 20a. should be
vocalized 'illd sajfyatima 'l-qulubi instead of qulubu. By assuming this to be the correct inter-
pretation, I am opposing a chain of authorities ranging from al-Tibrizi (A Commentaryon
Ten Ancient Arabic Poems by al-Tibrlzi, edited by Charles J. Lyall, Calcutta, 1894,
republished New Jersey, 1965; or: Beirut, 1987, 369; in another edition, Beirut, s.d.,
328: qulubq) through al-Shanqiti (Sharh al-MuCallaqdtal-aAshar, Beirut, s.d., 222 who reads
qulubu but generally reiterates al-Tibrizi's explanation) and Lyall to Van Gelder. This
not only calls for some courage but for a few arguments as well. Lyall's translation follows
al-Tibrizi's explanation of md in vs. 20 as md sila(tin). Consequently sajfydthas to perform
as a second subject to yanfaCu in 19 (talbfbu being the first) and so creating a Id ... 'illd
... construction.
There are some disadvantages: 1. It would mean that we have enjambement here,
which is not impossible, but unnecesary and avoidable. 2. If vss. 19 and 20 would be con-
nected in a ld ... 'illd construction talbfbu would have to have the same semantic range
as sajfydtu. Ullmann, WorterbuchderklassischenarabischenSprache, II, 1 (Lam), 75-6, 92, how-
ever, only lists the translation "to grab ... by the chest, by the throat" as a denominative
of labba. Later on the meaning may well have developed to "talking sense into someone",
but on p. 92 in the Worterbuchthis passage is translated: "und es fruchtet auch nichts,
wenn man (ihn) am Kragen packt". According to most dictionaries the synonyms of
sajtya seem to be tabia, khuluq, ganza, "innate disposition or temper". As a prelude to
20b, on the unstableness of friendship, it functions quite well, whereas in Lyall's transla-
tion "There help only natural gifts of judgement" I fail to see any meaningful connection
to the second part of the verse. 3. Qudama b. JaCfar quotes this qasfda by cAbid as one
of the poems in which tasric (that is the rhyming of a sadr to the monorhyme of the poem)
occurs quite often (Qudama b. JaCfar, Naqd al-Shi'r, ed. Bonebakker, 22 (Arabic text)).
In this poem we have this tasrit 5 times already, including the matlac. If we were to read
qulubu, it would give us an additional case of ta4ri<. Dr. G.J. van Gelder, provided me
with an extra argument for this reading: Bonebakker in his "Hamza al-Isfahanl's Recen-
sion of the Kitdb Naqd ash-ShiCr..." in Rivista degli Studi Orientali 51, 1977, 111, quotes
this supplementary text to his edition:
... tumma 'ata bi-'abydt 'aydan wa-qal:
'illd sajfydti md 'l-qulubu kam yatrukan shdni'an habibu
Because of these considerations I propose to read a shortened and inverted al-qulubu
md hiya 'illd ... sentence as a rhetorical question. The case ending of sajfydt may arguably
be -u or -i (acc.).
'Abid b. al-'Abra?
1. *Malhuib is desolate, all its folk gone,
and al-Qutabiyat and al-Danuib,
2. *And Rikis and Tucaylibat,
and Dat-Firqayn and al-Qalib,
3. *And CArdah and Qafa Hibirr-
no soul is left of them there.
4. Instead of their inhabitants, there are wild animals now
and the mishaps of Fate have changed them for the worse.