A poem by Alan Dugan
by Al Mutanabbi
Resolutions are measured against those who make them; generosity in accordance with the giver.
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Littleness is magnified by small men, while grandeur is deprecated by the great.
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Sayf al-Dawla imposes upon the army his will, yet seasoned armies cannot achieve it.
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He asks from men all that he has in himself, though even lions would not claim to match that.
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Dose al-Hadath know of its red color? Or which of the two pourers was a cloud?
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White-streaked clouds had watered al-Hadath before his arrival; when he approached, it was inundated with skulls.
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The enemy came at you, hauling their weapons as if they traveled on legless horses.
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When their ranks caught the light, their swords remained unseen, since their shirts and turbans were also made from steel.
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You stayed where you were, when doing so meant certain death: as if perdition itself slept while you stood in its eyelid.
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Wounded and fleeting, heroes passed you by, while your face remained bright and your lips, smiling.
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You surpassed the bounds of courage and understanding, until people claimed that you knew the unseen.
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To you belongs the praise for these pearls I pronounce; you are the giver, I the arranger.
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Oh, Sword never sheathed, whom none can doubt and from whom there is no refuge.
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Blessed are warfare, glory and eminence; blessed are your subjects and all of Islam, for you are safe!
Copyright ©:
Translated by Nancy Coffin
A few random poems:
- Greek Light
- Вера Павлова – Подарил мне жизнь
- quickstep.html
- Аля Кудряшева – Ночное
- We Miss You So Much by Ronald G. Auguste
- Ballade Of Dead Ladies poem – Andrew Lang poems
- The Fable by Yvor Winters
- no ambition for eternity by Raj Arumugam
- Butterflies by Rudyard Kipling
- Mother, I cannot mind my Wheel by Walter Savage Landor
- Зинаида Александрова – Раз – два – три – четыре – пять
- The Woodlands by William Barnes
- К нам приходит в день февральский снежною тропой
- Николай Гумилев – Канцона (Бывает в жизни человека)
- Stans Puer ad Mensam by Sir Walter Raleigh
External links
Bat’s Poetry Page – more poetry by Fledermaus
Talking Writing Monster’s Page –
Batty Writing – the bat’s idle chatter, thoughts, ideas and observations, all original, all fresh
Poems in English
- Valhalla
- The Masks of Love
- The Bull Moose
- The Window
- So Small, So Vital
- If Only
- haiku
- Valhalla
- The Masks of Love
- The Bull Moose
- The Window
- So Small, So Vital
- If Only
- haiku
- A Mysterious Naked Man
- A Certain Kind of Holy Men
- A Life Story
- Two Quits And Drum And Elegy Drinkers
- Two Quits And A Drum And Elegy For Drinkers
- To Sayf Al Dawla
More external links (open in a new tab):
Doska or the Board – write anything
Search engines:
Yandex – the best search engine for searches in Russian (and the best overall image search engine, in any language, anywhere)
Qwant – the best search engine for searches in French, German as well as Romance and Germanic languages.
Ecosia – a search engine that supposedly… plants trees
Duckduckgo – the real alternative and a search engine that actually works. Without much censorship or partisan politics.
Yahoo– yes, it’s still around, amazingly, miraculously, incredibly, but now it seems to be powered by Bing.
Parallel Translations of Poetry
The Poetry Repository – an online library of poems, poetry, verse and poetic works
Alan Dugan (1923 – 2003) an American poet, a contemporary classic of American poetry.