Sol 5.6

  1. Whose are the deserted dwellings beside al-Ḥubs,

    like the inked script of one setting down his needs?

  2. Indeed, I gazed at the litter-bearing camels, as though they were

    sparse-crowned young palms on either side of Ḥaras.

  3. When she grows fat, she is no creature from whom

    eyes recoil, nor is she hateful to the touch.

  4. Her withers have claimed all the flesh for themselves,

    and she is short-necked and compact, her girth over a saddlecloth.

  5. It is as though her necklaces had been draped upon

    a wild doe that had caught sight of men.

  6. As for the nights when I was a maiden,

    I was ringed round with watchers and seated attendants,

  7. until, when the curtained chamber brought me into view,

    the men were replaced by a forceful, full-built woman,

  8. and by an ugly-faced neighbor woman watching me,

    while my protected precinct collapsed like a cast-off saddlecloth.

  9. The farthest rim of night had already appeared,

    and the sun was in a yellow glow like wars-dye.

Sol 5.6