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| AL-Baytī's Contribution in other Poetical Fields |
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| Our purpose in this study is to try and assess the remarkable achievement of the poet al-Baytī among other contemporaries in the various fields of poetic composition. His contribution was evidently significant, as we have already noticed in our discussion of his work in the field of Arabic epic poetry. We turn now to a further study of some of his unpublished productions and we shall attempt to examine them in the light of the environment which is reflected in some of these poetical works. At the same time we shall try to assess the influence of other factors on his work, including the influence of other poets who preceded al-Baytī. |
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| Descriptive poetry |
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| As an intellectually aware person, the poet al-Baytī was himself a product of his time and this consideration leads us to examine his poetry for aspects of life in his day, such as what sort of environment he was then living in and what sort of people society consisted of, especially those who happened to be in the circles of learning. |
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| One of the poems which clearly reflects al-Baytī's milieu was that which he composed during his stay in the city of YanbuC on the Red Sea coast
(1)
in the year 1143/1730
(2)
. It appears from the brief introduction to this poem that al-Baytī composed it in imitation of a poem by Fath Allāh al-Nahhās
(3)
, who lived the latter part of his life in eleventh/seventeenth-century Medina. |
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| The poet intended to express through his verse the irony involved in his experience with bedbugs in this city. He complained of the unrest he suffered on account of these bedbugs at the outset of his poem: |
| رأى البَقَّ من كُلِّ الجهَات فَرَاعَهُ |
| فلا تُنْكِرُوا أعْرَاضه وامتناعَهُ |
| ولا تسْألوني كيف بِتُّ فَانَّني |
| لَقِيتُ عذاباً لا أطِيقُ دِفَاعَهُ |
| نزلنا بمَرْسَى ينْبُع البَحْرِ مرَّةً |
| على غيْرِ رَأْيٍ، ما عَلِمْنَا طِباعَهُ
(4)
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| ("He was shocked when he saw the bedbugs in every direction. So do not deny his evasive action and resistance. Do not ask me how I slept, as I encountered suffering which I was not able to withstand. We went down to the port of YanbuC once and since we had no prior knowledge, we were ignorant of its nature"). |
| In the succeeding four lines the poet gives a detailed list of other pests which gave him such a hard night in the city, viz: |
| نُقَارِعُ مِنْ جُنْدِ البَعُوضِ كَتَائِباً |
| وفُرْسَان نامُوسٍ عَدِمْنا قِرَاعَهُ |
| فَلَوْ عاينت عيناك ميدان ركضه |
| رأيت جريء القلب فيه شجاعه |
| وجُنْداً من الفيرَانِ في البيت كُمَّناً |
| متى وَجَدُوا خَرْقاً أحبُّوا اتسَّاعَهُ |
| وسُرْبةُ قَمْلٍ تنْبري إثْرَ سُرْبَةٍ |
| خِفَافاً إلى مَصِّ الدِّمَاءِ سَرِاعَهُ |
| يُنَازِعُها البرغوثُ لحمي فليتهُ |
| رضي بتلافي واكتفينا نِزَاعَهُ
(5)
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| ("We strike out against regiments of the army of dedbugs and we failed to hit the cavaliers of mosquitoes. If your eyes could have seen the field of their gallop, you would have recognized in them the characteristics of a courageous and brave heart. The troops of secretive mice, whenever they found a hole, loved to enlarge it. The flocks of lice, every one coming after the other, are swift and fast in sucking blood. The flea struggles with the lice for my flesh. I wish that he [the flea] were satisfied with my destruction and we were free of having to struggle with them"). |
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| The poet then proceded to describe the effects of his disturbing scene caused by all these mentioned pests. Thus he tried to appeal to his readers by illustrating in exaggerated language the bodily effects which were produced by his pestilent enemies as well as other environmental factors in this city. He wrote: |
| سَلُوا عن دمي سَارِي البَعُوض فإنَّني |
| علمتُ يَقِيناً أَنَّه قَدْ أَضَاعَهُ |
| فَلِلَّهِ جِلْداً صَارَ بالحكِّ أجْرَباً |
| أخافُ عليه يا فُلانُ انْقشاعَهُ |
| وعظم سِلاقٍ قد تولَّعَ بالخَصَى |
| وحَرٍّ أَذَابَ الجِسْمَ ثم أمَاعَهُ |
| ونَتْنِ كنيفٍ ربَّما جَلَبَ العَمَى |
| وسبَّب للآتي إليه انصراعَهُ |
| فلو كَان يُجدِي المرْءَ تجْديع أنفهِ |
| لَوَدَّ الذي يأْتِي الكَنِيفَ انْجِدَاعَهُ
(6)
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| ("Ask the night-reveller of gnats about my blood, because I am certainly convinced that he is responsible for its loss. How unfortunate that skin has become scabby through scratching. Oh my friend, I fear that [my] skin will be broken up. A startling laceration has gripped the testicle and a heat that causes the body to melt and dissolve. How often a stench of a latrine might cause blindness and inflict with epilepsy whomever came near it-if there were any use in a person amputating his nose, then the user of this latrine would be such a person!"). |
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| In a further extract of his poem, al-Baytī did not miss the opportunity to complete the colourful scene of these apparently weak but nevertheless very potent creatures and his own hopeless efforts made to stop their hurtful activities. Furthermore, it is clear from the poet's expressions that, as a strangerworking for a few months in the small town of YanbuC, al-Baytī was naturally homesick and whereas he might have expected some kind of entertainment, his disappointment was great when he was greeted instead by the disturbing "music" of these creatures that kept him wide awake and searching desperately for relief. So we read: |
| إذا رنَّمَ النَّامُوسُ حَوْلي أعَلَّنِي |
| وصدَّعَ قَلْبِي سَجْعُهُ وابْتِدَاعُهُ |
| وإنْ مَصَّ مِنْ دَمِّي وطَارَ تبعتهُ |
| إلى فائِتٍ مِنْه أرجِّي ارتجَاعَهُ |
| عدمت غِنَاءً مِثْلَ أنغام سَجْعِه |
| فما كان أَشْنَا سَجْعَهُ وابتداعَهُ |
| ضَعِيفٌ قَوِيٌّ لا يَقِرُّ من الأَذَى |
| وأضعفُ منه مَنْ يُرجِّي اصطناعَهُ |
| وقَدْ نَفَدتْ في دفْعِهِ كُلُّ حيلةٍ |
| ولو كَانَ بالحُسْنَى طلبْتُ انْدَفَاعَهُ |
| فيا لأُصَيْحَابي اقْتُلُوني ومَالِكاً |
| فقد مَدَّ نحْوي مفسد البَقّ بَاعَهُ
(7)
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| ("I became ill when the mosquito intoned his chant around me and his buzz
(8)
combined with his fresh attack caused the breaking of my heart. I followed him when he sucked my blood and flew in hope of regaining resembles the notes of his buzz which, combined with his fresh attack is a hated thing. While he [the mosquito] is weak in his power, he ceases not from his harm and whoever seeks his favour will be weaker than he. Every device to drive him off has failed and if only there were an amicable way to repel him, then I would have sought it. Oh, my friends, kill me and Mālik, because the bedbug has already stretched his outspread arms toward me"). |
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| After this descriptive passage, which constitutes the opening verses of the poem, the poet turns to tackle another subject., i.e. the further description of his personal experience with some bedouin tribes, but since we have already noted some lines of this part of his verse as evidence in our study in chapter two concerning social life in Medinan society in the twelfth/eighteenth century
(9)
, we will not go over this ground again here. |
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