This post was deleted by Astrid

The masculine/feminine expressions in Arabic we have discussed on bellydance lyrics translation tribe before. Arabic seems to put extreme importance on whether something is concerning a male of female subject. The verbs have different endings in the third person, depending on whether the action is performed by a man or a woman, even the imperative/command forms differ depending on whether a man or woman is addressed. But strangely, when it comes to lyrics and poetry, Arabic poets often shy away from clarifying that they are talking about a woman, it is considered "too explicit". But in the case of Nizar Qabbani who is a modern Arabic poet, this did not seem to apply, until I saw this one that you posted.
The poems I have posted have been translated into English by a man, in collaboration with a woman.
Funnily, German has a similar phenomenon like Arabic, I prefer to call myself a teacher and talk about teachers, rather than a "teacheress" and "teacheresses", sometimes, it seems too sexist sometimes in our language too. But in declarations of love, we will always use the appropriate gender. ; )
Now, I have observed Arab men calling each other "habibi" and I am fairly sure they were not gay. ; )