Ad Infinitum by Nicholas Ostler

Author:Nicholas Ostler [Ostler, Nicholas]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

The kharja, always brief, was definitely there to add a little vernacular spice to a formal poem in Arabic or Hebrew, rather than as an independent composition. But another kind of composition of the same twelfth century, the zajal 'utterance', while similar to the muwaššaha in that it had verses and refrains, was in vernacular Andals throughout. Here is a translation of some verses of a zajal by the genre's supposed originator, Ibn Quzman.*

O joy and spirit of the lover

Cause of his death and his very life

As soon as he saw your eyes, they slew him;

Murder through the eyes takes no prisoners for ransom.

You tear my heart, little one. If you only knew what I endure . . .

The lover is told, "Just look at her, and have patience."

"What is it like," he replies, "this patience?

Drawn out or round? And what color is it, friend?

Green? Yellow? Then is my lute its reflection?"

You tear my heart, little one. If you only knew what I endure . . .

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