Fakhr al-Din Khalid

Khalid, Amir Fakhr al-Din Khalid (f. 12^th century), son of Rabi’ Makki Turani. A notable of Khrasan with the title and nom de plume Taj al-Afazil and Khalid respectively. He was a friend of Anwari with whom he corresponded and held poetical contests. He was mainly attached to the court of Malik al-Jibal ‘Ala’ al-Din Jahansuz. He composed eulogies for the Seljuk Sultan Sanjar (1117-1157) and ‘Ala’ al-Din Jahansuz. He was an emir and a military official, in his own right ‘mard-i lashgari’. Although he was not a poet by profession, but his extant poetry reflects that he was a distinguished poet. His ghazals are delicate and elegant. The only qasida included in biographies is reportedly his, but we may not be certain of such ascription. He composed poetry in Persian and Arabic and was a resident of Herat. He died in the second half of the12^th century. The following couplets are by him:

O beloved! Thou shinest not on mine heart,

But thou art more elegant than the shining moon.

Love has a sign, I’m aware of it,

Beauty has an utmost limit, thou art that.

A sorrow of thee is worth one hundred thousand souls,

In my heart, at the time of assaying.

Be kind to my eyes’ pupils,

Further assign garden watching.

Take my life and sit before me,

That thou art as precious as life.

As thou remain’st with anyone in the manner of the soul,

As thou art delicate as soul.

Thou want’st me not, but it’s more surprising,

That thou read’st unwritten epistles.

It’s as if thou and me are proverbial,

For breaking promises and fortitude.  

Asar-afarinan (2/ 312); Farhang-i Sha’iran-i Zaban-i Parsi az Aghaz ta Imruz (1/ 182-183).