Sol 6.1

  1. وَبروحي شادنٌ مسكَنُهُ

    مُقلةٌ تَهمِي وَقَلبٌ يَجِفُ

    My soul be ransom for a fawn whose dwelling is

    an eye streaming tears and a heart that throbs.

  2. قَمريُّ الوَجهِ نوريُّ السَنا

    لَو رَآهُ هامَ فيهِ يُوسُفُ

    Moonlike in face, luminous in radiance;

    were Yusuf to see him, he would be mad with love for him.

  3. غُصنُ بانٍ تحتَهُ دعصُ نَقاً

    فَوقَهُ شَمسٌ وَلا تنكَسِفُ

    A bān-tree bough, beneath it a mound of sand;

    above it, a sun that is never eclipsed.

  4. عَينُه صادٌ وَنونٌ حاجِبٌ

    صُدغُهُ واوٌ وَقدٌّ أَلِفُ

    His eye is a ṣād, and his brow a nūn;

    his sidelock is a wāw, and his stature an alif.

  5. عَجباً في الواوِ لا تعطِفُهُ

    وَهيَ وَسطَ خَدِّهِ تَنعطِفُ

    How strange: the wāw does not soften him,

    though it curves in the middle of his cheek.

  6. بانَ عُذري في عِذارٍ حلَّ في

    وَردَةٍ في الخَدِّ ما تُقتَطَفُ

    My excuse is clear in the cheek-down that has settled on

    a rose upon the cheek, never plucked.

  7. فَتَرى أَخضَرَ في أَحمرَ في

    أَبيضٍ تَحميه سُودٌ وطُفُ

    So you see green within red within

    white, guarded by black, long-lashed eyes.

  8. إِن تَكُ الأَضدادُ فيه اِتَّفقت

    فَعَلَينا بِالهَوى تَختلِفُ

    If opposites have found accord in him,

    then through love they clash against us.

  9. من نَصيري مِن غَزالٍ غَزِلٍ

    عَن هَواهُ الدَهرَ لا أَنصرِفُ

    Who will be my defender against a flirtatious gazelle,

    from whose love I shall never turn away?

  10. قَد كَتَمتُ عَنهُ حُبّي زَمناً

    وَهوَ لا شَكَّ بحبّي يَعرِفُ

    I have concealed my love from him for a time,

    yet he, no doubt, knows of my love.

  11. يا شَقيقَ النَفسِ بَل مالِكَها

    لَكَ بِالرِقِّ أَنا مُعترِفُ

    O brother of my soul—rather, its master—

    I acknowledge my bondage to you.

  12. كُلَّما كلَّفتُ قَلبي عَنكُمُ

    صَبرَهُ زادَ بِقَلبي الكَلَفُ

    Whenever I task my heart, apart from you,

    with patience, passion grows within my heart.