Arabian Romantic

Poems on Bedouin Life and Love

ʿAbdallāh ibn Sbayyil, Marcel Kurpershoek

• Publisher: NYU Press
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781479804405
• eBook ISBN: 9781479804382
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Middle Eastern Literary Collections
• Index: Literature

Scenes from Arabian life at the turn of the twentieth century

Arabian Romantic captures what it was like to live in central Arabia before the imposition of austere norms by the Wahhabi authorities in the early twentieth century: tales of robbery and hot pursuit; perilous desert crossings; scenes of exhaustion and chaos when water is raised from deep wells under harsh conditions; the distress of wounded and worn-out animals on the brink of perdition; once proud warriors who are at the mercy of their enemy on the field of battle. Such images lend poignancy to the suffering of the poet's love-stricken heart, while also painting a vivid portrait of typical Bedouin life.

Ibn Sbayyil, a town dweller from the Najd region of the Arabian Peninsula, was a key figure in the Naba?? poetic tradition. His poetry, which is still recited today, broke with the artifice of the preceding generation by combining inherited idiom and original touches reflecting his environment. Translated into English for the first time by Marcel Kurpershoek, Arabian Romantic will delight readers with a poetry that is direct, fluent, and expressive, and that has entertained Arabic speakers for over a century.

An English-only edition.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Letter from the General Editor
• Foreword
• Introduction
• Map: Northern Central Arabia
• Note on the Text
• Notes to the Introduction
• Arabian Romantic
• 1: God, You saved Job from his predicament
• 2: Why rejoice at their summering near our wells?
• 3: My eyes, where are the loved ones you hold so dear?
• 4: Zēd, first you smiled, now you turn away from me
• 5: Come, messenger, fetch your mount
• 6: Moralizers! Do not put my heart to the test!
• 7: Yesterday I was in throes of tears and sobs
• 8: Darling, if I come, mind the enemy
• 9: Lord, people bow in worship to win Your favor
• 10: I beseech You, God, and You alone
• 11: The things of this world can’t be gotten by mere tricks
• 12: I supplicate You to smooth my path, God
• 13: I can’t blame a soul who abstains from food
• 14.1: Rider who sets out with nine hundred mounts (Fayḥān ibn Zirībān)
• 15: If you drink to lift your spirits, connoisseur
• 16.1: Rider of camels at breakneck speed (Fayḥān ibn Zirībān)
• 17.1: May God whiten the face of Ṭāmi ibn Gidrān (Masʿūd Āl Masʿūd)
• 18: Almighty God! My heart is pulled from its roots
• 19: Separation tore us apart and left me wistful with desire
• 20: God help me with this flood of tears
• 21: Servant of God, weigh your thoughts with care
• 22: My heart strains like a small herd of camels
• 23: First, the name of God in all of the world’s affairs
• 24: Dhʿār, in the full year that has passed today
• 25: I sing these verses, warbling on a high dune
• 26: Poor heart abandoned by its wits
• 27.1: Pity eyelids that do not close at night (Ibn Zirībān)
• 28: A sudden shock upset me, slashed my insides
• 29: My heart is being bent like a bow by a craftsman
• 30: Hey Sinʿūs, what is this leisurely pace!
• 31: Leave off, you players of love’s game, leave off!
• 32: May it not rain on late-summer nights
• 33: My heart is wracked like the hearts of rustlers
• 34: My heart strains like camels driven hard by rustlers
• 35: Why, my eye, have you tortured me with love?
• 36: You are privy, God, to the deepest secrets
• 37: I climbed to the lookout, a peak marked by cairns
• 38: Blessed is the blasé heart―one that lacks for nothing
• 39: I groan like a warrior felled by a blade
• 40: As the camel train disappeared over the spur of Abānāt
• 41: Hey what’s-your-name, give me the stuff that revives me
• 42.1: I moan like a man whose leg is tied with Mishānīṭ straps (Muṭawwaʿ Nifī)
• 43.1: Hey, Ibn Sbayyil, things are out of kilter (Smēr of the ʿUtaybah tribe)
• 44: What joy, this message that quickened my eye (Minīʿ al-Giʿūd al-Ṣāniʿ)
• 45.1: May illness not touch you, full-bosomed beauty (Rbayyiʿ al-ʿAbd)
• 46.1: Pay the protection money, bleary-eyed villager (Ibn Thaʿlī)
• Notes
• Glossary
• Bibliography
• Index
• About the NYU Abu Dhabi Institute
• About the Translator
• The Library of Arabic Literature