Sol 5.6

  1. O you whose glances hold a keen blade,

    slender-waisted, whose arrow swiftly snatches away—

  2. Who lodged the roses in your cheeks, and who

    embroidered the pattern of your first beard, or veiled it?

  3. Why has this disordered temple-lock

    barred the paths of kissing and offered itself as a target?

  4. The horizon of battle-dust brought forth for me a moon

    amid stars that wheeled or advanced in ranks,

  5. the water of beauty dripping from him, and trem—

    bling whenever his ample haunches swayed.

  6. One so prodigal in beauty is not blamed when

    he tyrannizes his lovers or exceeds all bounds.

  7. He crooked his grappling hook and sharpened it;

    I said, “Your hooked temple-lock is enough for you:

  8. it can spare you your arrow—the glances—and

    your keen-edged sword—your slender figure.”

  9. My palm inclined toward his side-locks,

    though death advances before anyone can touch them.

  10. Then he passed like a cloud, trailing the excess—

    of his sleeve—how wondrous!—and the train of his robe.

  11. He said, while the roses in

    his cheeks turned safflower-red with rage, “It is time they were plucked!

  12. Does one like you lay a hand upon me? Does he

    not fear that a glance of mine will destroy him?

  13. Were a lion to pass me, it would die of fright; and if

    you saw my phantom in sleep, you would not even blink.

  14. I am torment melted down, and the lion, the—

    black one in might, and the ignoble—ignoble indeed.

  15. What youth is cleverer than I, if, when

    my eye falls upon him, he does not perish at once?

  16. When we drink the daughter of the vines, then by the—

    white blades we live, and with lances we bestow our gifts.

  17. Were it not for my restraint and my regard

    for my being mighty while you are weak,

  18. I would slaughter you, though the sky were falling

    above me and the earth beneath us caving in.”

  19. I said, “Gently! You are not the first who

    erred in ignorance before coming to know.

  20. The full moon does not erase the darkness upon

    its two brocaded folds, nor can the sea be drained.

  21. I am resolved to bring a claim against you, so do not

    heed anyone who reproaches or rebukes.

  22. And do not leave me to swear an oath; if

    I wished, I could swallow the Psalter and the Qur’an.”

  23. He smiled, revealing pearls, and unveiled

    roses; I kissed him, and he did not disdain it.

  24. He said, “What do you desire?” I answered him,

    “Let us shatter our enviers by going reveling.”

  25. He bore me away, with darkness as his cloak

    and dawn in his right hand—a keen blade—

  26. to gardens where the raincloud courted all

    the blossoms it had brocaded and variegated.

  27. There, among young men who had known the delight of—

    life and attained its most exquisite bliss,

  28. this one made merry, that one grew jealous, another

    kissed unwillingly, and yet another pleaded for favor.

  29. The coolness of the earth cooled us, while the—

    moon buttoned its densely woven dark cloak over us.

  30. Between us were two wines: one from the juice of the—

    vine, and one saliva sweeter than strong wine.

  31. God graciously led me to an occasion

    whose like, for one like me, is grace indeed.

  32. I recited to him a revealing poem—so how

    could he kiss the opaque “تلكش,” the line, and the letters?

  33. He died of intoxication, and I died of joy;

    the veil of passion was nearly torn away.

Sol 5.6