سَقَتْهُ إِيَاةُ الشَّمْسِ إِلَّا لِثَاتِهِ / أُسِفَّ وَلَمْ تُكْدَمْ عَلَيْهِ بِإِثْمِدِ
Sunlight seems to have bathed this beauty, apart from the darkness of the gums, which looks as though lightly dusted with antimony rather than rubbed or worked with it.
Iyāt al-shams denotes sunlight or a sunbeam; lithāt is the plural of gum; and ithmid is a mineral used for eye-darkening cosmetic pigment. The image juxtaposes radiant whiteness with a naturally dark tone.
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Ṭarafah ibn al-ʿAbd: Ruins, Ships, Gazelle, and Beauty (Verses 1–10)
سَقَتْهُ إِيَاةُ الشَّمْسِ إِلَّا لِثَاتِهِ / أُسِفَّ وَلَمْ تُكْدَمْ عَلَيْهِ بِإِثْمِدِ
Sunlight seems to have bathed this beauty, apart from the darkness of the gums, which looks as though lightly dusted with antimony rather than rubbed or worked with it.
Iyāt al-shams denotes sunlight or a sunbeam; lithāt is the plural of gum; and ithmid is a mineral used for eye-darkening cosmetic pigment. The image juxtaposes radiant whiteness with a naturally dark tone.