«فَانْبَرَى يُنْشِدُ فِي الْحَالِ مِنْ غَيْرِ انْتِحَالٍ»
He launched into verse at once, without passing off someone else’s work as his own.
«أَكْرِمْ بِهِ أَصْفَرَ رَاقَتْ صُفْرَتُهُ»
How splendid is this yellow coin, whose golden colour delights the eye!
Akrim bihi is an exclamatory formula of admiration, not an ordinary command to honour a person. Rāqat means proved pleasing. The poem begins with the coin’s most immediate physical attribute: its golden colour.
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The Dīnārī Maqāmah: From Hunger to a Dinar’s Praise
«فَانْبَرَى يُنْشِدُ فِي الْحَالِ مِنْ غَيْرِ انْتِحَالٍ»
He launched into verse at once, without passing off someone else’s work as his own.
«أَكْرِمْ بِهِ أَصْفَرَ رَاقَتْ صُفْرَتُهُ»
How splendid is this yellow coin, whose golden colour delights the eye!
Akrim bihi is an exclamatory formula of admiration, not an ordinary command to honour a person. Rāqat means proved pleasing. The poem begins with the coin’s most immediate physical attribute: its golden colour.