1. A moon-faced beauty kept sipping the wine of ṭilā,

    until he became so drunk that no spark of life remained in him.

  2. At nightfall he began drinking it again and again,

    until his dusky lips appeared crimson as the twilight.

  3. He rose and swayed coquettishly, while his haunches made him falter;

    his slender waist was adorned with girdles.

  4. O people of reason, who will plead my excuse for loving a young gazelle—

    a skittish gazelle that rivals the full moon on the horizon?

  5. I drew him into my embrace, and he bent away in bashfulness,

    lowering his gaze—ah, my longing! Ah, my burning heart!

  6. Anger stained his cheek with the red of Nuʿmān’s anemones,

    and sweat crowned his rosy cheeks.

  7. With signals from his sidelong glances, he said to me:

    “O master of love’s devotees, O master of every godly soul,

  8. what do you say, when the transmitters have told us

    that embracing is forbidden?” I said, “Let the sin be upon my neck.”

Sol 5.6