November 30, 2020

Alexander the Sleepless

Due to the utter insufficiency of words for this narration, all historians have kept their silence, which has been detrimental for those who wish to rise to his example. It is for their purposes that I—like the traders who cheat death as they rove this world in quest of elusive gains—commit the rashness of setting down this account, seizing the present moment to give his would-be emulators the benefit of a partial description. For a fully proportionate description of this noble athlete's virtues is beyond human telling.

From The Life of Alexander the Sleepless (I.4) by Anonymous

November 10, 2020

Let's have a Qalandar poem

The Muwashshaha Qalandariyya of
Taqi al-Din ibn al-Maghribi (d. 1285)
appears in this month's Brooklyn Rail.
Thanks, Anselm

On the left, three kneeling men with shaved heads, bare legs, and capes of fur are singing together. One of them plays a tambourine, and the other two are clapping. Facing them on the right are two kneeling men wearing robes and turbans, one of them holding a tambourine while the other plays an upright stringed instrument.
Detail of a folio from the Divan of Hafez
illuminated by Sultan Muhammad Nur and workshop (ca. 1531-1533),
a joint holding of the Met and Sackler.
Dimensions: Astoundingly small