Sol 6.1

  1. O driver of love's she-camels, how long will you sit?

    Does hanging back from driving them please you?

  2. Come, cast them into the breast of the deserts, for they are

    swift as lightning, fierce-eyed, mighty camels.

  3. When roused, they plunge through seas of trackless wastes,

    and desert tracts grow easy for them in night travel.

  4. And cast them upon the noonday blaze, for they are

    treaders on the embers of the noonday fires.

  5. And steer them toward the dwelling of the lovely gazelles,

    for there the lovely gazelles have their sheltered lairs.

  6. There proud kings are captives of love,

    and there the lions of the den are prey.

  7. Gardens watered with beauty's water into loveliness;

    so through beauty's water their planted beds grew fair.

  8. There the gazelles graze with smiles,

    and meet love's folk with frowns.

  9. Among them is a gazelle surpassing the sun in beauty,

    vying in beauty with every full moon of loveliness.

  10. She puts the horizon's moon to shame on the night of its fullness,

    so westward it falls, by God, its head bowed.

  11. Slender of stature, she puts a bān-tree shoot to shame,

    and the Khatti spear is scorned when she rivals it.

  12. One of the modest-eyed, surpassing in splendor,

    the robes of radiant beauty are her garments.

  13. Delicate in the fold of her waist, slender-bellied,

    golden in speech, slim-waisted and winsome.

  14. Her eyes are drunk on the tawny wine of drowsiness,

    and how many a lovesick man they have kept awake while themselves drowsy!

  15. And dark-lipped: were pure wine compared with her saliva,

    the measure and the measurer would err without doubt.

  16. So I melted in passion for her and grew love-mad with yearning,

    and obsessive thoughts within me grew beyond love's frenzy.

  17. I came by night to her sanctuary while the stars shone,

    and the radiant full moon lit the deep darkness.

  18. And when I approached her sheltered lair,

    I found the gazelles at play, sheltered in their lairs,

  19. and that the lions of the thicket around her lair

    stood guard over it with tawny, lofty spears.

  20. So I gave my life freely, heedless of death,

    while the hands of doom stealthily snatched souls.

  21. I attacked, intent on entering her lair,

    and pounced like a lion—a lion scowling.

  22. I entered it with smiling lips, laughing,

    and death—even being slain—never crossed my mind.

  23. Welcoming me, she said: How did you enter it,

    with the lions of war—the knights—barring your way?

  24. And she said: Has the dusty earth any knight but you

    who passes through the lions' thicket while the night is pitch-dark?

  25. I told her: My life for yours! I am no knight,

    but one kept apart, despairing of nearness.

  26. Love called me until I cast my very life

    among lions trading thrusts with tawny spears.

  27. But if you seek to know a knight of that earth today,

    who appears upon its face—Ahmad Faris is that knight.

  28. A man of excellence and kindness, a garden of discernment,

    whose flowers are the arts of refinement, and they are brides.

  29. Within him sway the branches of every accomplishment,

    and how wondrous their beauty as they sway!

  30. Beauty's waters steeped him in the luster of delight,

    for in such things, by God, rivalry reaches its heights.

  31. And all refinement has been planted within him,

    and has any planter ever planted the like of such grace?

  32. And the beauty of his qualities made that planting grow;

    come, praise them indeed: they are treasures.

  33. Articulate, eloquent, unequaled in eloquence,

    with a magic of expression no rival has attained.

  34. Discerning, an orator of ringing eloquence; his verse

    has no counterpart among poetry.

  35. For if one like Sahban saw him, he would not be

    an orator to whom assemblies flock.

  36. He is the full moon, glory's full moon among its stars,

    yet he sits upon the heads of its two Simak stars.

  37. From the highest nobility he has adorned himself with eminence,

    and is clad and arrayed in the robes of exaltation.

  38. God be with him—what a gallant man, without equal!

    And the days, unyielding, were miserly with him.

  39. He was adorned with perfection in beauty and with loftiness,

    for which garments were woven from the fabric of dignity.

  40. So, O noble man, whose lineage is pure,

    in whom glory's branch sways with pride,

  41. to you comes a full-figured daughter of thought, once secluded;

    though she left her chamber, she lingered unwed apart from you.

  42. Then she consented and has come to you, supple and tender,

    a bride through whom other brides are forgotten before you.

  43. She has come to kiss your hands, and one such as she

    is in need of those white hands, without a doubt.

  44. So grant her acceptance: she has come, shy and wild,

    and your gracious acceptance will put her at ease.

  45. And endure in God's safekeeping as long as the full moon appears

    and its light brightens night's wing and the deepest gloom,

  46. and as long as a yearning lover urges the camel-driver, saying:

    O driver of love's she-camels, how long will you sit?

Sol 6.1