Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ - Shams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi - (10/197)

And he also said:

Whenever she appears while the moon is full,
her face alone vindicates my passion. (1)
Beneath her clothes she sways as though
a stalk of sweet basil were trembling among green leaves.
God has decreed that I must die of yearning
for the enchantress with bewitching eyes and a breath of fragrance. (2)

Abu al-ʿAtahiyah passed away in Jumada al-Akhirah, 211 AH.
Another report places his death in 213 AH, at the age of eighty-three or thereabouts, in Baghdad.

He became renowned for his love of ʿUtbah, the maidservant of the Caliph al-Mahdi, to the point that he wrote to him these two lines:

My soul still clings to some portion of this world—
Allah and the reigning Mahdi will suffice it.
Time and again I despair of it, only to be lured back by hope,
for your disdain of this world and all it holds rekindles my desire for it.

(1) The recension preserved in al-Diwan and Tarikh Baghdad reads: – Idha ma badat wa-l-badru laylata tamma (When she appears while the full moon is at its height), ra’ayta laha fadlan mubinan ‘ala l-badri (you clearly see her surpass the moon). Preceded by the hemistich: – Wa-inni la-ma‘dhurun ‘ala tul-i hubbiha (I am surely excused for the length of my love for her), li-anna laha wajhan yadullu ‘ala ‘udhri (for her very face proclaims my excuse). (2) Al-Diwan, p. 547; Tarikh Baghdad, vol. 6, p. 257. These verses were composed for ‘Utba, the young favorite of the caliph al-Mahdi.

وَقَالَ: إِذَا مَا بَدَتْ وَالبَدْرُ لَيْلَةَ تِمِّهِ ... رَأَيْتَ لَهَا وَجْهاً يَدُلُّ عَلَى عُذْرِي (١) وَتَهْتَزُّ مِنْ تَحْتِ الثِّيَابِ كَأَنَّهَا ... قَضِيْبٌ مِنَ الرَّيْحَانِ فِي وَرَقٍ خُضْرِ أَبَى اللهُ إِلاَّ أَنْ أَمُوْتَ صَبَابَةً ... بِسَاحِرَةِ العَيْنَينِ طَيِّبَةِ النَّشْرِ (٢) تُوُفِّيَ أَبُو العَتَاهِيَةِ: فِي جُمَادَى الآخِرَةِ، سَنَةَ إِحْدَى عَشْرَةَ وَمائَتَيْنِ. وَقِيْلَ: سَنَةَ ثَلاَثَ عَشْرَةَ وَمائَتَيْنِ، وَلَهُ ثَلاَثٌ وَثَمَانُوْنَ سَنَةً، أَوْ نَحْوَهَا، بِبَغْدَادَ. وَاشْتُهِرَ بِمَحَبَّةِ عُتْبَةَ؛ فَتَاةِ المَهْدِيِّ، بِحَيْثُ إِنَّهُ كَتَبَ إِلَيْهِ هَذَينِ البَيْتَيْنِ: نَفْسِي بِشَيْءٍ مِنَ الدُّنْيَا مُعَلَّقَةٌ ... اللهُ وَالقَائِمُ المَهْدِيُّ يَكفِيْهَا إِنِّيْ لأَيْأَسُ مِنْهَا ثُمَّ يُطْمِعُنِي ... فِيْهَا احتِقَارُكَ لِلدُّنْيَا وَمَا فِيْهَا

(١) رواية البيت في " الديوان " و" تاريخ بغداد ": إذا ما بدت والبدر ليلة تمه * رأيت لها فضلا مبينا على البدر وقبله: وإني لمعذور على طول حبها * لان لها وجها يدل على عذري (٢) " ديوانه " ص ٥٤٧، و" تاريخ بغداد " ٦ / ٢٥٧، والابيات قالها في عتبة فتاة المهدي.