Sol 5.6

  1. O gazelle of Wajra, east of Kāẓima,

    are there water-seekers on the western side?

  2. Tormenting—or tormented—delightful the shooting with which you beguile him;

    O gazelle of Rāma, may no hunter shoot you.

  3. O spring, you barred the thirst-maddened wanderer

    from the sweetness of drinking your water: his coming met only rebuff.

  4. I have said what I have said—if only you would grant me joy in our union;

    for generosity’s Hāshim has fathers and forefathers.

  5. Death for your sake is life, O brother of Muḍar,

    for a lover; and the soul’s straying is guidance.

  6. I draw pure honey from your cheeks whenever I drink it;

    give me more—your cheek is my drink and my journey’s store.

  7. Yesterday, in the uplands, you promised me tomorrow;

    join me on my day—for days are promised trysts.

  8. A bough—its saliva, the fallen dew, clothed it—

    until it bent, the fallen dew serving as its robes.

  9. The stature is upright, the waist supple-curving;

    the eye is kohl-dark, the cheek aflame.

  10. In him, above the valley, I courted a gazelle of the dunes,

    gazing at me while lions filled the whole field of sight.

  11. Your love descended to the lowland only for the heart to bear it up to the highland;

    for in loving you I have both lowlands and highlands.

Sol 5.6