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.