Another transmitter recited for Kutheyyir ʿAzzah (1):
The distance that arose between us has bred no forgetfulness,
nor has long, unbroken union given rise to weariness;
the slanderers increased me only in yearning,
and the many who tried to forbid me only in persistence.

Kutheyyir also said:
So I told her, “O ʿAzz, every calamity—
once the soul resigns itself to it for a day—becomes tame.
May it be pleasant and wholesome, untainted by any hidden ailment:
to ʿAzzah belongs, of our honor, whatever she has taken.” (2)

Kutheyyir ʿAzzah also said—and in it there is wisdom:
Whoever refuses to shut his eye to a friend,
ignoring some of what is in him, will die still reproaching;
whoever pursues every slip with determined zeal
will surely find them, yet through all the ages no companion will remain. (3)

They recount that ʿAzzah bint Jamil ibn Ḥafṣ, of the Banū Ḥājib ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ghifār—known as Umm ʿAmr al-Ḍumariyyah—came to ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān to lodge a complaint of injustice.

He said, “I will not settle it for you until you recite to me some of his poetry.”

She replied, “I do not know Kutheyyir’s verses by heart, but I have heard people relate that he said of me these lines:
Every debtor I have known has paid his creditor,
while ʿAzzah’s creditor is still deferred and worn.” (4)

He said, “That is not what I am asking for; rather, recite to me his words:
‘She claims that I have changed since her—
but, O ʿAzz, who is there that never changes?
My body has altered, yet my nature is as you left it,
and no one has revealed the secret you entrusted.’” (5)

She grew bashful and said, “That one I do not remember, though I have heard it recounted of him. But I do recall his saying:
It is as though I were calling to a rock when she turns away—
a stone so sheer that even sure-footed mountain goats would slip.
She is forbearing, yet whenever she meets you it is with stinginess;
whoever wearies of that tenuous bond, she wearies of him in turn.” (6)