Sol 5.6

  1. Whenever my patience steels itself in love, or tries to repent,

    my passion for longing only grows sweeter.

  2. My passion swells with separation, and so does my infatuation;

    far, far from me is solace, though my heart has melted away.

  3. Love is madness, and there is no release from it;

    whoever imagines a cure for madness is a liar.

  4. I have grown gray in my love, yet my ardor has not waned.

    Spare me your reproach: what blame can touch one grown gray?

  5. I fell for a gazelle in whom every beauty flourished,

    reared in perfection’s embrace upon wondrous graces.

  6. A child born of beauty, who grew from infancy

    in a cradle of dalliance, grace streaming through him.

  7. Never did the sun of his face rise upon me

    but the full moon donned eclipse’s cloak and vanished.

  8. A sun shedding radiance over beauty’s horizons,

    in a firmament of splendor, pouring light upon every charm.

  9. In his cheek is the rose, watered by his cheeks

    with the water of brilliance, lavishly poured over their freshness.

  10. Upon the cheek, his first down has begun to rise:

    how marvelous the myrtle towering above the roses!

  11. How beautiful it is—an emerald glittering,

    while beauty streams down over its freshness.

  12. It lays fingers across the cheeks and comes into view,

    yet the cheeks’ flame neither harms nor melts it.

  13. Rather, it breathes perfume, making souls fragrant.

    How sweet the musk by which my spirit is perfumed!

  14. His mouth is like pearls, his lips like carnelian;

    O pride of carnelian, now companion to pearls!

  15. The moisture in it is pure water and honey—

    no, by my life, it is wine and fragrant musk.

  16. I long to drink from it and from its fragrance;

    a single draught holds healing for all ailments.

  17. His glance is a sword, though it seems frail;

    when it strikes, it cuts keener than a qirdāb blade.

  18. Its sorcery steals secretly through the mind,

    since it flows from eyelids and lashes.

  19. It never settles in a mind without passing into the heart,

    only to become, by instinct, its ravisher.

  20. His eyelid shoots an arrow at the noblest men;

    no archer ever aimed such a shaft.

  21. His stature is a lance, revealed as he lengthens his stride;

    how many a branch it has shamed by swaying proudly!

  22. That swaying is its spearhead, with a supple bend;

    in piercing my heart, it has the hardness of a warrior.

  23. O spirit of my life, O life of my heart,

    O joy of my heart—may you never vanish from my eyes!

  24. O sun of my beauty, O perfection of my perfection,

    bless with your union this lovesick, yearning youth.

  25. Be certain of my passion, anguish, and infatuation;

    do not, beloved, seem doubtful of your lover’s love.

  26. Look at my wasting frame and disregard my words, my censor:

    the censor, against one love-maddened, is nothing but a liar.

  27. He strives to sow corruption—may he never prevail over my desire,

    for my censor’s way is to carry tales and backbite.

  28. Far be it from you, beloved, to heed companions:

    one loves you, and though he turns back from your love, he has not repented.

  29. Peace be upon you; for all time, keep ascending in beauty,

    in the glory of a beauty whose cloak is refinement,

  30. as long as a lover is tormented by the one he loves,

    and verse grows tender and is sweetened by love-song.

Sol 5.6