the request

Pedino Um Falcão
By IBN al Quaturnuh
Year 1214.


The Request

O, king, son of highborn parents
And of illustrious ancestry!

You whom I worship on my knees
I ask of you a favour greater than
the most beautiful pearl on a string
made of silver thread;


honour me with the privilege of giving
you this falcon with plumage limpid
as the sky, so much loved by
the northerly wind;

and let it fly from you hand, freed
from its chain, see it soar to join
the wind;