Sol 5.6

  1. An Englishwoman charms and captivates

    her lovers with a rosy cheek.

  2. She appeared, then swayed—and a full moon shone,

    radiant above a straight Samharī spear.

  3. I said, “What is the maiden’s lineage?” She said—

    and pointed to her cheek—“London-born.”

  4. I said, “By God, who is your father?” She gestured

    to me with her eye: “The Minister of War.”

  5. I said, “Will you not heal the passion of hearts

    whose fire, like your cheeks, burns bright?

  6. O gazelle who drew, against the lion Napoleon,

    Mashrafī blades from her glances!

  7. Victoria’s precious crown is adorned

    by you, radiant pearl of beauty.

  8. I have lodged you in my heart, so deal gently

    with it, O daughter of one who professes patriotism.

  9. Though beauty is constitutional among you,

    and civilization arose through your people,

  10. how have you become a despot in beauty?

    Where have the virtues of liberty gone?”

  11. Then she answered with a smile of her mouth,

    and I received the telegraphic message:

  12. “The gleaming mirage deceived you, so you came

    seeking water without a thought.

  13. We are a people tender in speech and harsh

    in deed; deceit is our ingrained nature.

  14. We profess compassion and speak of justice,

    of peace and human mercy—

  15. words flowing without realities,

    like my waist, an imaginary form.

  16. Ask India and the Boers about us: we

    left neither one a remnant of glory.

  17. Never did we enter a people’s lands but

    affliction descended and calamity befell.

  18. With my temple-lock I have set snares

    and caught the Egyptian beauty.

  19. How many a lover’s mortal spot I have struck,

    my foxlike eye hitting its mark!

  20. And how many arrows I sharpened from my lashes,

    by which the blood of humankind was spilled!

  21. Though I am London-born, my eyelids,

    when they gaze with their magic, are Babylonian.”

Sol 5.6