Sol 6.1

  1. Cease your coldness, for your ardent lover's heart is seared.

    And his ribs enclose the blazing fire of your desertion.

  2. He is fried over passion's fire, and often

    Appears roasting upon the stone of longing.

  3. Is there a draught from your mouth to extinguish his heat?

    So perhaps he may be given drink—but how could he drink his fill?

  4. The fragrance of passion fills the worlds with longing,

    And my weary heart enfolds it.

  5. Why does the reproacher seek to restrain an enthralled lover

    From the one he loves, though he will not be dissuaded?

  6. The reproacher lied in denying my love,

    Yet I am the one of whom passion's tale is told.

  7. The reproacher has wearied himself, achieving no aim

    Save deepening your enamored lover's passion.

  8. O you who pierce me with the spearpoint of a well-proportioned figure,

    And when it sways, it becomes a twisting bough.

  9. Will a visit revive the one you have slain with love?

    For it is the cure for one who has fallen ill through love for you.

  10. O you whose languid glances, with their arrows,

    Have proved mighty in overpowering ravening lions.

  11. O you who ordained your coldness, intent on practicing it,

    So patience is the lovers' duty, and it has been resolved upon.

  12. Torment me, banish me, be cruel, forsake me, and kill me;

    Nay, take me captive too, and do whatever deed you desire.

  13. For I am steadfast, and ever remain a brother to love.

    And through it comes guidance for the sorrowful mufti.

  14. Nothing surpassed this coldness for me except the cessation

    Of letters from one possessed of upright character:

  15. The discerning master, the valiant hero, the brother of piety,

    The Subki of this age, the jurist al-Asnawi,

  16. The pole of the sciences and their full moon, the sun of knowledge,

    Who sits enthroned upon the throne of high honors,

  17. The sheikh of the Way, its pole, the treasure of Reality,

    Its secret, possessor of the station of Moses.

  18. A virtuous man enfolding a sea of noble deeds,

    A noble man embracing generosity of temperament.

  19. For he is the refined one, a worshipper of the All-Merciful, who

    Has come to stand enthroned over every virtue.

  20. May good fortunes and high honor ever serve him,

    As long as a bough remains untouched by withering,

  21. Or as long as Ibn Fath Allah says to his beloved:

    Cease your coldness, for your ardent lover's heart is seared.

Sol 6.1