«نَفْسِي الْفِدَاءُ لِثَغْرٍ رَاقَ مَبْسِمُهُ»
May my life be a ransom for a mouth whose smile so charms me.
Nafsī al-fidāʾ is conventional poetic hyperbole for affection, not the description of an actual sacrifice. Rāqa means to please or delight; mabsim refers to the smiling mouth or the place of a smile.
The line establishes the smile as the central image before the succeeding comparisons unfold.
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The Ḥulwān Maqāmah: A Literary Assembly and a Contest of Verse
«نَفْسِي الْفِدَاءُ لِثَغْرٍ رَاقَ مَبْسِمُهُ»
May my life be a ransom for a mouth whose smile so charms me.
Nafsī al-fidāʾ is conventional poetic hyperbole for affection, not the description of an actual sacrifice. Rāqa means to please or delight; mabsim refers to the smiling mouth or the place of a smile.
The line establishes the smile as the central image before the succeeding comparisons unfold.