Abu at-Tayyib al-Mutanabbi

Courage to reason second place must take.
For valour should not balanced judgment shake.
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Strong resolves come in proportion to men of determination,
and noble deeds come in proportion to magnanimous men.
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My heart is aflame, burning with love for you
While your heart is frigid-cold toward me
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Resolutions are measured against those who make them; generosity in accordance with the giver.
Littleness is magnified by small men, while grandeur is deprecated by the great.
Sayf al-Dawla imposes upon the army his will, yet seasoned armies cannot achieve it.
He asks from men all that he has in himself, though even lions would not claim to match that.
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Beautiful women, as experienced men know,
Are but darkness wrapped in dazzling light aglow.
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A young soul in my ageing body plays,
Though time's sharp blades my weary visage raze.
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Night fell; your favor never falls, your sight's
more suited to the eye than being shut
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Dark is the day before it's seen; an adjective's
untrue until it's verified by sight, & since
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Behold a rosy lion! when seeking out a lake to drink
His roar resounds as far as the Euphrates and the Nile River
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Cowards see vapid impotence as sense,
Such is treacherous villainy's defense.
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Sleepless over sleepless I had life dramatically
My pains increase and my eyes shed tears periodically.
The hardship of ardent love hurts me extremely.
Only sleepless eye remains and poor heart throbs constantly.
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Defiantly live, or in honour die,
Midst slashing blades and banners flapping high
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so that what was held equaled what remained without:

it grew to overflow my flesh, turning
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When my hands from brimming cups weakly shook,
I awoke, ere sense my wined mind forsook.
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Shoreless you would be of you were a sea.
If rain, earth unable to contain ye,
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Misfortune's arrows do upon me rain.
Countless arrowheads does my heart sustain.
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Though a noble lady and highly born
‘Tis your unfeminine wisdom we mourn
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Grave harm have lovers to themselves done,
Loving, ere understanding life begun,
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Secrets I keep no companion can discern.
Nor to it can wine its potent way burn.
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No indolent dreaming dawdler am I,
Nor am content, while riches I descry.
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