Styptic
وَلَوْ كانَ يَفْنى الشِّعْرُ أَفْباهُ ما قَرَتْ
حِياضُكَ مِنْهُ في السِّنينِ الذَّواهِبِ
وَلَكِنَّهُ صَوْبُ العُقولِ إِذا ٱذْجَلَتْ
سَحائِبُ مِنْهُ أُعْقِبَتْ بِسَحائِبِ
yet could I consume
the poetry of you I’d
swallow you straight
watered with years
your cyclical refrain
reciting in each pulse
styptic, it holds my
hemorrhaging mind
longing to be astringed
a cloud untissuing itself
seeking to be cohered
in another dissipating cloud
Abū Tammām (أبو تمام) was one of the most influential poets of the ʿAbbāsid era, active in the third century AH (ninth century CE). Born Ḥabīb ibn Aws in Syria—his father reportedly a wineseller—he later embraced Islam, having been raised Christian, and rose to prominence in the literary circles of Baghdad and beyond. He is best known for compiling the Ḥamāsa, a landmark anthology of early Arabic poetry that shaped the canon for generations, and for his own celebrated verse, which exemplifies the richly inventive badīʿ style of the period. His poetry is renowned for its intricate metaphors and bold conceptual leaps, creating a fusion of poetic form with philosophical reflection.
