Thread by @shahanSean

Abū Nuwās (lived ca. 756-800 CE), one of the greatest poets of Arabic literature, is also counted among its most notorious ‘bad boys’. His poems celebrate wine, sexual escapades and licentiousness more generally. Some of his funnier poems address Satan (Iblīs) himself …

When my lover began to spurn me//and his letter and news ceased to come
I called out to Satan and said to him//as I shed tears alone by the bucket

“Do you not see that I am ruined?//Weeping and sleepless nights emaciate my flesh
My ardor’s intense and worry acute.//Anxiety and passion nearly slay me.
All for obeisance to you! I fulfill your wishes unfailingly//and scorn what you despise

But if you do not now graft love upon//my darling’s heart—as you are so capable—
I will never more recite poetry or hearken to song,//nor will inebriation be the sap of my limbs!
Rather I will recite the Qurʾan incessantly,//Rising early to study it well into the night!

To His Sanctuary I will journey accountable before God//every year and store-up virtuous deeds!
***********
[... and here comes the punchline ...]

Not three passed from that time//before my darling came to me contritely
Seeking my affection and company//(So preferable to his previous scorn!)
What happiness after sorrow!//-At which my heart almost ruptured;
What grace and bounty!—enormous to me//though to Satan a mere trifle

Credit for the translation (which I only slightly adapted for my tweets) goes to Phil Kennedy, who includes it in is delightful book on the poet.
books.google.com/books?id=bX3YA…