As usual on this blog, I'm reluctant to quote whole poems from a book for copyright reasons. But here are some extracts - five examples of rivers in medieval Andalusian poems, beginning with that blue one:
Blue River
The river of diaphanous waters
murmuring between its banks
would have you believe
it is a stream of pearls.
...
Muhammad ibn Ghalib al-Rusafi (d. 1177)
Rain Over The River
The wind does the delicate workof a goldsmithcrimping water into meshfor a coat of mail....
Abu I-Qasim al-Manishi (12th century)
The Valley of Almería
...See how excited the river is?Listen to its murmured applause
sounding beneath the dancing trees
that arch over it
wearing garlands of blossom....
Ibn Safr al-Marini (12th century)
Tide in the Guadalquivir
When the West Wind ripped the river's tunicthe river overflowed its banksto pursue and take revenge;
But the doves laughed, and made fun
from a sheltering thicket....
Ibn Safr al-Marini
Honey River
...Reflections of floating lightspointed like lancesat the cuirasse of the river.There we stayed untilthe jewels of frostforced us to separate....
Ibn Abi Rawh (12th century)
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