Sol 5.6

  1. The world closes in upon us whenever you are absent from us,

    and longing carries our souls away from us.

  2. Distance from you is death, and nearness to you is life;

    if you were absent from us for even a breath, we would die.

  3. We die when far from you and live when near you;

    and if a herald of reunion with you comes to us, we live.

  4. We live by remembering you when we cannot see you.

    Indeed, the remembrance of loved ones revives us.

  5. Were it not that our hearts behold your spiritual presence—

    when we are awake, and in sleep when we are lost to ourselves—

  6. we would die of grief and yearning from being far from you.

    Yet in the realm of meaning, your spiritual realities are with us.

  7. The telling of tales about you is what stirs us;

    were your love not in our innermost hearts, we would never be moved.

  8. So tell the one who forbids love’s ecstasy to those who know it:

    If you have not tasted the wine of love’s true meaning, leave us be.

  9. When spirits quiver with longing for reunion,

    bodies begin to dance, O you who know nothing of the inner meaning.

  10. Do you not see the caged bird, young man?

    When it remembers its homeland, it yearns for its dwelling.

  11. Through song it releases what lies within its heart,

    and its limbs tremble in both outward sensation and inward meaning.

  12. It dances in its cage from longing for reunion,

    and even men of reason are stirred when it sings.

  13. So too are the spirits of lovers, young man:

    longings make them tremble for the most exalted realm.

  14. Shall we compel them to be patient when they are filled with longing?

    How can one who has witnessed the inner reality possibly endure patiently?

  15. If you have not tasted what people have tasted in love,

    then, by God, O empty-hearted one, do not reproach us.

  16. Accept from us what we profess, for

    when our longings overwhelm us, we sometimes cry aloud.

  17. Our hearts tremble when we listen to the chant;

    when we cannot conceal our ecstatic feelings, we declare them openly.

  18. Within the secret are mysteries subtle and delicate;

    our blood would be shed openly if we disclosed them.

  19. O cameleer of the lovers, rise and chant, standing;

    intoning the Beloved’s name for us, and revive our spirits.

  20. Guard our secret in our intoxication from those who envy us;

    and if your eyes find anything objectionable, forgive us.

  21. For when rapture comes upon us and our reason is overwhelmed,

    and the wine of passion permeates us, we cast off restraint.

  22. Do not blame the drunken one while he is drunk:

    for in our intoxication, obligation has been lifted from us.

Sol 5.6