When I sent you that knife
Solomon Ibn al-Mu‘allim
12th Century
When I sent you that knife, I thought its name was an omen, and indeed the augury and presage became true: the knife signifies that you are inhabiting my heart, its cutting signifies rupture and distance.
This poem was written in Arabic and represents the only extant example of Solomon’s poetry in that language. The version we have today survives via a thirteenth-century anthology of Arabic poetry by Ibn Sa‘īd al-Maghribī (d. 1286), who cites Solomon as the only notable poet from Marrakesh. In the poem, formatted as a prose paragraph, Solomon describes sending a knife to his love.
Related Guide
Early Medieval Poetry
Creator Bio
Solomon Ibn al-Mu‘allim
Originally from Seville, Abū Ayyūb Solomon Ibn al-Mu‘allim was a poet, scholar, and physician at the court of the Almoravid emir ‘Alī ibn Yūsuf ibn Tāshufīn in Marrakesh. Maimonides reports an incident in which the emir died after being administered the wrong dose of theriac, despite being treated by four respectable physicians, including Solomon. Contemporaneous poets praised Solomon’s ability to write poetry in both Arabic and Hebrew, though only one poem by him in each language has survived. He corresponded with leading poets, such as Moses Ibn Ezra, Judah ha-Levi, and Abraham Ibn Ezra.
You may also like
The Lord judges nations
See the nature of the winds
And the fleas charge
And there are men who coveted you
Bear my greetings