Sol 5.6

  1. Tears refused all but to pour and stream,

    and passion vowed—swearing solemnly—that I would never recover.

  2. My eye overpowered me and disclosed its tears,

    revealing what the heart had kept obscure of the secret.

  3. Surely the water of the eyelids held a sign

    of what I suffer—why, then, did it shed blood?

  4. An eye fears sleep until it is as though

    it thinks that sleep is a kind of blindness.

  5. Behold: the radiance of longing’s fire grows

    brighter whenever the deep darkness of night turns black.

  6. How many a passion journeyed, guided by its glow,

    striving toward my heart, then reached it love-struck.

  7. Among all wonders is that I am enthralled

    by a coquettish one whom I left enthralled with me.

  8. He bids me farewell while his eye scatters its tears,

    and lets me sip from his mouth pearls strung in a row.

  9. He wept in anguish when I laughed, feigning fortitude—

    ask which of us proved more steadfast before love.

  10. I have an ambition whose abode is at Iraq’s farthest reach,

    and a heart now encamped at Syria’s farthest reach.

  11. Were it not for Ibn Bistam—Wuhayb—and his generosity,

    I would surely saddle, for my purpose, the steeds of my resolve and bridle them:

  12. a man of innate generosity, who surpasses his kin

    whenever the noble among mankind give out of magnanimity.

  13. Every petitioner holds sway over his wealth,

    and he makes him master of praising him, so he rules freely.

  14. He plunges into death: either you see him

    as a drawn sword, or else as a straight Samharian spear.

  15. A delegation seeking bounty meets him, having come upon his wealth

    as adversaries, while a battalion meets him as a lion.

  16. Time struck me; yet, had I frightened it

    merely by saying I would seek you, before truly seeking you, it would not have struck.

  17. Indeed, my nature is gentle and tractable when wealth is with me,

    but it turns hard and unruly when I am destitute.

  18. I have led forth a bride, fashioning your glory into her ornaments;

    lofty virtues clothed her in a robe embroidered with your name.

  19. Whenever my thought’s spontaneous flow unveiled her, she smiled,

    and your bounty met her, smiling.

  20. I made her meanings ample and her verse concise;

    I presented her a virgin, and she departs unwed.

  21. Whoever strives through poetry to rival the heights

    seeks, through what he composes, to vie with heaven.

Sol 5.6