Yaḥyā ibn Salamah ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad (1), Abū al-Faḍl the Shāfiʿī al-Ḥaṣqafī (2)—so called after Hisn Kayfa—was an authority in many sciences, both jurisprudence and letters, and a gifted writer of prose and verse; yet he was accused of excessive Shiʿite leanings. Ibn al-Jawzī quotes a selection of his poetry (3), among which are these lines from a longer poem (4), composed in the rajaz metre (5):
They divided(6) my heart on the day of leave-taking;
Since they turned away, I have possessed no heart.
Upon my eyelids(7) they journeyed, yet in my breast
They settled(8) and drew the water of my eyes.
My tears stream forth, my heart is wounded,
And the heat of my thirst will never cool.(9)
My yearning is constant, my eye
Is blood-red, and slumber has been driven away.(10)
A supple, graceful gazelle has enthralled me—
How delightful is that gentle gazelle!
His sword is drawn, his palace
Smoothly burnished, and his cheek rose-red.
The hair at his temple, above the flush of his cheek,
Is tousled, coiled, and curly.
His fragrance and his saliva seem
Like musk and wine, and his teeth are cool ice.(11)
When he would rise, his hind-part(12) makes him sit,
And within my breast there dwells the captive who keeps me bound.
His figure is like the rod of a young willow,
Swaying straight, without the slightest bend.
The poem is very long; after this amorous prelude he turns to praising the Ahl al-Bayt and the Twelve Imams—may Allah be pleased with them (13)—saying: