Dog Days Of Summer

...or Sirius Poetry

53 Al Najm (The Star/Revelation)

53:49 وَأَنَّهُ هُوَ رَبُّ الشِّعْرَى

53:49 He is the Lord of Sirius (the 'Shining One')


What is it about the brightest star, Sirius, that makes people wax poetic? Even Edgar Allan Poe was not immune to its charm.

EVENING STAR
by Edgar Allan Poe
1827

'Twas noontide of summer,

And mid-time of night;

And stars, in their orbits,

Shone pale, thro' the light

Of the brighter, cold moon,

'Mid planets her slaves,

Herself in the Heavens,

Her beam on the waves.

I gazed awhile On her cold smile;

Too cold–too cold for me-

There pass'd, as a shroud,

A fleecy cloud,

And I turned away to thee,

Proud Evening Star,

In thy glory afar,

And dearer thy beam shall be;

For joy to my heart

Is the proud part

Thou bearest in Heaven at night,

And more I admire

Thy distant fire,

Than that colder, lowly light.

26 Ash-Shu'ara (The Poets)

وَالشُّعَرَاء يَتَّبِعُهُمُ الْغَاوُونَ 26:224

26:224 And the 'errant' follow the poets. (This is the classical interpretation; the primary meaning of مغو is not 'errant' but any one of the following: inductor/seducer/seductive/inticing/incidious/tempting)

A more accurate translation appears to be:
26:225 And the Poets are followed by the Seductive/Seducers...

16 An-Nahl (The Bee)

وَسَخَّرَ لَكُمُ اللَّيْلَ وَالْنَّهَارَ وَالشَّمْسَ وَالْقَمَرَ وَالْنُّجُومُ مُسَخَّرَاتٌ بِأَمْرِهِ إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ لَآيَاتٍ لِّقَوْمٍ يَعْقِلُونَ 16:12

16:12 And He has made the night and the day of service/benefit to you, and the sun and the moon and the stars are subservient to His command; in this there are messages for people who use their reason.

86 At-Tariq (The Tariq)

86:1 وَالسَّمَاء وَالطَّارِقِ
86:2 وَمَا أَدْرَاكَ مَا الطَّارِقُ
86:3 النَّجْمُ الثَّاقِبُ

86:1 By The Heavens And The Tariq
86:2 And Do You Know (Who Has Tought You) What Is The Tariq?
86:3 A Piercing Star! (A Light/Revelation That Pierces The Darkness)

For homework; what may seem like a disparate collection of poetry and Signs really comes together for the field astronomer who happens to like Egyption mythology and dabbles in linguistics. Connect 'The Dog Star' to the idiomatic expression 'Dog Days of Summer' and the Arabic name of Sirius (Ash-Shi'ra) which if mispronounced can be misconstrued for the Arabic word for Poets (Ash-Shu'ra) to Osiris and then see how that relates to Judaism and Christianity and other World Religions. A special gold star to anyone who can tell me why, in this given instance, the train can and did jump the tracks before my next post. Bonus points if you can relate Poe's 8,8,6 verses to music.

PS I quite enjoyed Sunday's Los Angeles Times Crossword Puzzle. Thanks.