FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174  
175   176   177   178   179   180   181   182   183   184   185   186   187   188   189   190   191   192   193   194   195   196   197   198   199   >>   >|  
ure in thy hand, Give resignation to one mad with love! Like one exiled from home, I weep and mourn. My enemies might give me pity now. All food is tasteless, and I cannot sleep. I write this with my love but three days dead. She left me, said farewell, and came not back. This song, O ye who listen, was composed Within the year twelve hundred finished now, The date by adding ninety-five years more. [1295.] This song of Ould-es-Serge we have sung In Ayd-el-Rebye, in the singing month, At Sydy-Khaled-ben Sinan. A man, Mahomet ben Guytoun, this song has sung Of her you'll never see again alive. My heart lies there in slim Hyzyya's tomb. THE AISSAOUA IN PARIS[A] Come, see what's happened in this evil year. The earthquake tumbled all the houses down, Locusts and crickets have left naught behind. Hear what has happened to those negro scamps, Musicians--rogues, and Aissaoua. They spoke of nothing but their project great. Bad luck to him who lacks sincerity! On learning of the tour of Rayyato They all began to cry and run about, Half with bare feet, although the rest were shod. The Lord afflicts them much in this our world. 'Twas only negroes, poor house-colorers, Who did not follow them about in crowds. The Christian Salvador put them on ship. One felt his breast turn and exclaimed, "I'm sick." A wench poured aromatics on the fire, And thus perfumed the air. For Paris now They're off, to see the great Abd-el-Azyz. The Christians packed them like a cricket-swarm, Between the sea and church, upon the wharf He drew them, wonders promising, and led Them but to beggary. He takes them to His land to show them to the chief of all His masters, to the Emperor. He hopes To get a present and thus pay them back, Retaining all the money he advanced. [A] Former student of the Medersa of Algiers, bookbinder, lutemaker, and copier of manuscripts, Qaddour ben Omar ben Beuyna, best known among his coreligionists as Qaddour el Hadby (the hunchback), who died during the winter of 1897-1808, has sung for thirty years about all the notables of his city. This lively poem was composed by him on they occasion of the departure for Paris of a band of musicians, singers, and Aissaoua, who figured at the Exposition of 1867, under the direction of a professor of music named Salvador Daniel. The original is in
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174  
175   176   177   178   179   180   181   182   183   184   185   186   187   188   189   190   191   192   193   194   195   196   197   198   199   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
Aissaoua
 

composed

 

happened

 
Qaddour
 
Salvador
 
packed
 

cricket

 

Between

 

breast

 

wonders


church
 
negroes
 

follow

 

aromatics

 

promising

 

poured

 

crowds

 

perfumed

 

colorers

 

Christian


exclaimed
 

Christians

 

Retaining

 
notables
 

thirty

 
lively
 
hunchback
 

winter

 

occasion

 

departure


professor

 

direction

 
original
 
Daniel
 

musicians

 
singers
 

figured

 

Exposition

 

coreligionists

 

present


Emperor

 

masters

 
beggary
 

manuscripts

 
copier
 
Beuyna
 

lutemaker

 

bookbinder

 
Former
 

advanced