Gazelle
Poetry

One of the traditional themes of Arabic love poetry involves comparing the gazelle with the beloved, and linguists theorize ghazal, the word for love poetry in Arabic, is related to the word for gazelle. It is related that the Caliph Abd al-Malik (646–705) freed a gazelle that he had captured because of her resemblance to his beloved:

O likeness of Layla, never fear! For I am your friend, today, O wild gazelle! Then I say, after freeing her from her fetters: You are free for the sake of Layla, for ever!

The theme is found in the ancient Hebrew Song of Songs. (8:14)

Come away, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or like a young stag on the spice-laden mountains.
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