Everything happens for a reason. Taking in Moorish architecture in Cordoba might have been riveting to this history nerd, but not to my 3 year old, who just wanted to run free. We stumbled upon this little monument while we were chasing pigeons.
Andalucian love story
The hands touch, but barely. So near and yet so far. Quite like the doomed lovers to whom this monument is dedicated – the famous Andalucian poet Ibn Zaydun (1003-1071) and Princess Wallada (1001-1091), the daughter of the Ummayad Caliph.
Verses by both, the poet and the princess are carved on this marble monument, in Arabic and Spanish.
* From Wallada:
“أغارُ عليكَ من عيني ومني
ومنكَ، ومن زمانكَ والمكانِ
ولو أني خَبَـأتُكَ في عُيـوني
إلى يوم القيامة مـا كــــفاني”
«Tengo celos de mis ojos, de mí toda,
de ti mismo, de tu tiempo y lugar.
Aún grabado tú en mis pupilas,
mis celos nunca cesarán…»
“I fear for you, my beloved so much, from even my own sight, even the ground you tread, even the hours that pass threaten to snatch you away from me. Even if I were able to conceal you within the pupils of my eyes and hide you there until the Day of Judgment my fear would still not be allayed.”
* Ibn Zaydun, returning her glance just as ardently, responded:
” يا من غدوت به في الناس مشتهرا
قلبي يقاسي عليك الهم و الفكر
إن غبت لم ألق إنسانا يؤانسني
و إن حضرت فكل الناس قد حضر”
«Tu amor me ha hecho célebre entre la gente.
Por ti se preocupan mi corazón y pensamiento.
Cuando tú te ausentas nadie puede consolarme.
Y cuando llegas todo el mundo está presente»
“Your love has made me famous among high and low your face devours my feelings and thoughts. When you are absent, I cannot be consoled, but when you appear, all my troubles fly away, as If I have the whole humanity by my side”
