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Arabian Poetry, by W. A. Clouston, [1881], at sacred-texts.com


p. 163

ON LOVE.

BY ABU ALI, THE MATHEMATICIAN.

[ABU ALI flourished in Egypt about a.h. 530, and was equally celebrated as a mathematician and as a poet. In the following odd composition he seems to have united these two discordant characters.]

I NEVER knew a sprightly fair
  That was not dear to me;
And freely I my heart could share
  With every one I see.

It is not this or that alone
  On whom my choice would fall:
I do not more incline to one
  Than I incline to all.

The circle's bounding line are they;
  Its centre is my heart;
My ready love, the equal ray
  That flows to every part.


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