1881.] 
C. J. Lyall —Translations from the Hamdseh. 
131 
Notes. 
The Arabic is in the Taivil of the Jbhird form 
scanned thus : 
the second hemistich is 
<£i 
The English adopts the form of the Kamil , as in No. IN. 
The author, Khalaf son of Khalifeh, was an inhabitant of el-Medineh, 
and is mentioned as an authority on the traditions respecting the Prophet. 
v. 1. I have, following the commentary, joined Tchaliyan with o'aiibu , 
in the sense of alone : but it might easily he taken with tebessemtu, in the 
sense of “ light-hearted, as if free from care.” 
v. 2. Ed-Deyr is the name, apparently, of the spot where his dear 
ones were buried. It is the usual word for a Christian monastery. EU 
Musalla , “ the place of prayer”, was the name of a small mosque which 
stood at the top of a slope called baqi‘-el-Gharqad, used as the cemetery of 
el-Medineh. 
NI. 
9 99 ^, 
^ o 
<Sy P i 
J &.U ! Axe , JU 
US 
, o j>. 
AxaAj cujuJ 
z' f O 
& 
S S’ 
y / / ^ ^ ' fj Jf. ' r 
u0 9 
*«Axaj jX2.sc I Jd 
’ // / ^ // s s 
^ S s' ^ ^ ^ S y SS ^ s s 
V99S *> 9, 99 
4.J&, 1*0. U>) AxA*U) 
f J J * " J '- * f 
1 y /• / ' 
f Abdallah son of TliaHebeh el-Hanafi. 
Before the door of each and all a slumber-place is ready set: 
men wane and dwindle, and the graves in number grow from day 
to day ; 
And ever more and more outworn the traces fade of hearth and home, 
and ever yonder for some dead is newly built a house of clay. 
Yea, neighbours are they of the living: near and close their fellow¬ 
ship ; 
but if thy soul would win their converse, thou must seek it far 
away. 
Ham.jp. 405. 
ii 
