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Arabian Romantic -- Frontmatter -- Letter from the General Editor -- About this Paperback -- Contents -- 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 -- 14.2: Rider setting out on a Ṣayʿar camel mount -- 15: If you drink to lift your spirits, connoisseur -- 16.1: Rider of camels at breakneck speed -- 16.2: When clouds roll in, the rain starts with a drizzle -- 17.1: May God whiten the face of Ṭāmi ibn Gidrān -- 17.2: Riders of smooth, fast camels -- 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 -- 27.2: Camel rider with ten mounts chosen for speed -- 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 -- 42.2: The Muṭawwaʿ is all fakery and tawdry nonsense -- 42.3: I compose my verses to rhyme in ṭāʾ -- 42.4: Muṭawwaʿ, may your deepest secret be exposed -- 42.5: What now, little fat-assed ʿAbdallah -- 42.6: Dghēlīb offered a price for Muṭawwaʿ’s mortar -- 42.7: Riders on camels, gray from grueling marches -- 42.8: When my mood is blue I call for Nūrah -- 42.9: Muṭawwaʿ! What’s all this sound and fury? -- 42.10: Hey crowing cock! You’re all bluff and bluster -- 42.11: I swear to God, we owe it to the door -- 42.12: Too late! Why did one of us not get up -- 42.13: What a wonderful rain cloud, at the Lord’s command -- 42.14: Those flashes of lightning have set the sky ablaze -- 43.1: Hey, Ibn Sbayyil, things are out of kilter -- 43.2: Smēr, I will provide no comfort for your ranting -- 44: What joy, this message that quickened my eye -- 45.1: May illness not touch you, full-bosomed beauty -- 45.2: Why does this dumb blacksmith, out of his depth -- 46.1: Pay the protection money, bleary-eyed villager -- 46.2: I’ll chuck you a bone, you mangy mutt -- Notes -- Glossary -- Bibliography -- Index -- About the NYU Abu Dhabi Institute -- About the Translator -- The Library of Arabic Literature Scenes from Arabian life at the turn of the twentieth centuryArabian 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 Nabaṭī 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
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