considers the other to be unrivalled, superlative (2:1–3*); in the waṣfs they exuberantly praise each other’s physical charms (4:1–7*; 5:10–16*; 7:2–7*[1–6*]); and they exchange without embarrassment equally passionate invitations to love-making (1:2–4*, 7–8*; 2:13–14*; 4:8*, 16*; 7:11–12*[10–11*]; 8:14*). There is no sense here of masculine dominance and mere submission or subordination of the female; it is indeed the woman’s voice that resounds most loudly in the poetry,