Ode
In his ode, the first eight verses are a wine song which perhaps were added later but suit the poem very well. The next thematic section narrates his lady's departure on her litter (a chair placed on camel's back that veiled women from strangers, dust and sun), and the joy of the sword-fight. Finally he deals with several types of grief - camels over their young, mothers for sons, the departure of lovers and the grief brought by fate. At this point in the ode he covers the philosophy of the uncertainty of life and fate. Next, he addresses the grandfather of the victim - Amr b. Hind - and discusses Arab ideals and defends his mother again. He lauds his ancestors as well.
The following is the opening section of his ode:
أَلاَ هُبِّي بِصَحْنِكِ فَاصْبَحِيْنَـا وَلاَ تُبْقِي خُمُـوْرَ الأَنْدَرِيْنَـا Ha girl! Up with the bowl! Give us our dawn draught And do not spare the wines of al-Andarina,
مُشَعْشَعَةً كَأَنَّ الحُصَّ فِيْهَـا إِذَا مَا المَاءَ خَالَطَهَا سَخِيْنَـا The brightly sparkling, as if by saffron were in them Whenever the mulled water is mingled with them,
تَجُوْرُ بِذِي اللَّبَانَةِ عَنْ هَـوَاهُ إِذَا مَا ذَاقَهَـا حَتَّـى يَلِيْنَـا That swing the hotly desirous from his passion When he has tasted them to gentle mellowness;
تَرَى اللَّحِزَ الشَّحِيْحَ إِذَا أُمِرَّتْ عَلَيْـهِ لِمَـالِهِ فِيْهَـا مُهِيْنَـا You see the skinflint miser, when the cup's passed him, Suddenly holds his prized property in derision.
صَبَنْتِ الكَأْسَ عَنَّا أُمَّ عَمْـرٍوَ كَانَ الكَأْسُ مَجْرَاهَا اليَمِيْنَـا O Umm ‘Amr, you've withheld the beaker from us- From right to right it should have been running-
وَمَا شَـرُّ الثَّـلاَثَةِ أُمَّ عَمْـرٍو بِصَاحِبِكِ الذِي لاَ تَصْبَحِيْنَـا And yet your friend, whom you deny the dawn-draught, O Umm ‘Amr, is not the worst trio,
وَكَأْسٍ قَدْ شَـرِبْتُ بِبَعْلَبَـكٍّ وَأُخْرَى فِي دِمَشْقَ وَقَاصرِيْنَـا And a wine cup I had drank in Baalbek; and other one (wine cup) in Damascus and Qāserīn
وَإِنَّا سَـوْفَ تُدْرِكُنَا المَنَـايَا مُقَـدَّرَةً لَنَـا وَمُقَـدِّرِيْنَـا And of surety the fates will overtake us Predestined for us, as we for them are predestined.
Read more about this topic: Amr Ibn Kulthum
Famous quotes containing the word ode:
“I do not propose to write an ode to dejection, but to brag as lustily as chanticleer in the morning, standing on his roost, if only to wake my neighbors up.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The ode lives upon the ideal, the epic upon the grandiose, the drama upon the real.”
—Victor Hugo (1802–1885)