Sol 6.1

  1. Whoever has not sold his soul in love is shortchanged.

    And whoever is free of love for gazelles is mad.

  2. I am a man whose creed is love of the beautiful,

    And the creed of love is a religion among lovers.

  3. Passion is his constant practice, and love his habit,

    And in love with supple beauties, he is despoiled and bewitched.

  4. Their figures, like lances, are cruel in piercing,

    Yet if they sway, there is suppleness in their sides.

  5. I loved a gazelle among them who has no equal,

    And my eyes lend beauty to the one I love.

  6. His glances—gleaming blades—have been whetted and have slain,

    And a sword is deadlier when it is sharpened.

  7. Do not deny that his eyelids shoot arrows, for

    No denial of it is conceivable among lovers.

  8. Can anyone deny the shooting, when these eyebrows of his are

    A bow coupled with a bow, to shoot the lovesick lover?

  9. The magic from his eyelids has caused disorder

    In a lovesick lover's mind; its weakening has overwhelmed him.

  10. Rather, magic has affected the beloved's eyelid, for

    Its weakening of the eyelid is not hidden from the discerning.

  11. But its effect upon the lovesick lover has weakened him,

    While its effect upon the eyelid is adornment.

  12. So his beauty mark is musk, and the down on his cheeks is myrtle,

    And his upper cheek is a rose, and his cheek an eglantine.

  13. And his stature is a spear, and his eye a sword,

    And the enamored, lovesick lover is wounded and pierced.

  14. His smiling mouth parts to reveal the cool sweetness of coral,

    And a treasure of precious pearls lies stored within it.

  15. I likened his eyebrow, for its beauty, to the letter nun,

    And likening it to nun is auspicious.

  16. I only inverted it because his beauty mark

    On his cheek is a dot by which nun is recognized.

  17. In Tammuz, he promised the lovesick lover to grant him

    Union with him when Tishrin came.

  18. And the promise stirred my yearning when he promised me,

    And nothing but union can soothe my yearning.

  19. And he turned the promise into a threat and drove me away,

    When Tishrin came, and humiliation overwhelmed me.

  20. Oh, the burning of my heart in Tishrin when it came!

    And my heart is a brazier for the fire of love.

  21. A king of beauty, to whom souls have been given,

    And every mind is pledged to him for all time.

  22. Sweetly nasal-voiced, his resonance is a mellow sound with which

    The large-eyed houris from the Garden of Eternity fell in love.

  23. When he stood reciting God's Book, it was said to him:

    For one such as this, Jibrin came bearing the Qur'an.

  24. So the universe dances, and the birds have thrilled with joy,

    And in the garden the branches sway.

  25. Since he prolonged Ha Mim in it, there gathered around him

    Ta Ha and Ya Sin, seeking his recitation.

  26. Here, out of reverence, I made a riddle of my praised one's name,

    Yet my veiling of the praised one reveals him.

  27. And he is the distinguished teacher, our master,

    A vessel laden with excellence—and he is the sea.

  28. Rather, this is Abu al-Nasr, master of this poem's composer, al-Fath,

    Blessed in name and qualities, auspicious.

  29. Master of spiritual truth and gnosis, for he has

    Undoubted mastery of the very essence of its mysteries.

  30. The gallant lord whose eminence has grown great,

    And often have sultans fallen short of him.

  31. And accept the gift of a poor and needy man,

    You shall never be reminded of it as a favor, however long time lasts.

  32. And you are the finest of men, accepting what

    A needy, poor man offers in this life.

  33. And be safe and abide in God's protection, as long as there rises

    A sun, and as long as one moment passes after another,

  34. And as long as Ibn Fath Allah says in rapture:

    Whoever has not sold his soul in love is shortchanged.

Sol 6.1