Who has ever seen anyone

like my beloved

who resembles the full moon

when she appears

If she enters the house today

her buttocks will follow

tomorrow

It is as though

the eyes of beasts

around our saddles and tents

were un-bored onyx

It is as though the fresh

and desiccated hearts of birds

in their aerie

were jujube

and overripe dates

He is so short

that the sun

does not make a shadow

for him

He is so short and ugly

that people on the road

trip over him

It is as though the stars

were monks’ lanterns

lit for homecomers

when I stared at the sky

The three lines, above, of Imru’ al-Qays were cited as a superb example of the excellent employment of simile, where two objects in each line are accurately compared in image and form.

Cheerful spring has come

strutting about

so laughing with beauty

that it could almost talk

When we had performed our duties at Minā

and whoever wished to touch the arkān*

had done so

And when our saddlebags had been strapped

to the humpbacked dromedaries

and the early comer would not notice

the late comer

We began to exchange

tidbits of conversation

while the ravines flowed

with the necks

of our mounts

* “Arkān” are the sacred corners of the Kaʿbah; “duties at Minā” are part of the religious ceremonial rituals of pilgrimage to Mecca.. These three lines were cited as an example of factual truth that can be transformed metaphorically into poetic truth.