“On a flea”
🛌
A roan camel the size of a black caraway seed,
jumpier than a panther on a gazelle fawn—
his frisking will be the death of me,
keeping me up with his scratching till dawn.
—Abū al-Faraj al-Sāwī (d. 997, Sāveh, Persia)
Several more flea poems in the thread 🧵
🛌
A roan camel the size of a black caraway seed,
jumpier than a panther on a gazelle fawn—
his frisking will be the death of me,
keeping me up with his scratching till dawn.
—Abū al-Faraj al-Sāwī (d. 997, Sāveh, Persia)
Several more flea poems in the thread 🧵
The seed he is comparing the flea to, shawnīz, seems to be (Nigella sativa), shown:
This is the third flea poem I've tweeted. Here is a later one, also from Persia:
And another from North Africa:
You find the genre in Spanish Hebrew poetry:
The text is from Yatīmat al-Dahr, ed. ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd (first ed.), 3:394.
The Nigella sativa image is CC Wikipedia btw, you'll find it on both the Arabic and English pages.
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