Poem for an anonymous Moorish Poet on the defeat at Seville November 1248
We have eaten rats during this seige
The Goths want us to acquiesce
to their stinking Christian suzerainty.
They never tell us why we should do so.
We have our music, poetry, wine, gardens and our beautiful women.
And beauty gives light like lamps to one travelling in the dark.
Makes one wake up, notice a sparkling jewel,
A pearl from the deeps of a distant ocean
A rarity of dream:
A passion that is large and does not fade.
Hearts beat in harmony :
Tears like rain;
The body wracked by childbirth and war;
Indifference breaks hearts:
Stars burn in her eyes,
In the depth of night.
She loves her garden,
Spreads perfume, colour
All is as summer dictates,
Mirroring my state of mind;
Desire might extinguish me.
Man, you must wait for a woman
Sometimes for a whole lifetime
Or longer still - far and distant -
The world is sick of injustice -
Heaven knows. We must help each other
Die before these Moorish walls fall.