Sol 6

  1. Friend, I am never sober

    from my love for Dah.

  2. Love for Dah has become a cup

    within my heart, laid open.

  3. My heart has inclined toward her;

    indeed, my heart has wings.

  4. And in its love for Dah, it has defied

    every reproacher and every living soul.

  5. Would that I had messengers from the jin—

    —n and the winds to reach her,

  6. to convey my wishes for me

    and then return with success.

  7. Dah, Dah, beloved of Nasr!

    Ah, your love—ah!

  8. By God, I am slain

    by you, though I bear no wound.

  9. She killed me with no sword,

    nor with dark spears.

  10. You are deadly to people

    through love, not weapons:

  11. through beauty and charm,

    through coyness and play,

  12. through two hunting eyes

    and a mouth like daisies.

  13. Would that I were a dove

    for you, with clipped wings.

  14. People, leave me be;

    I am not among the fortunate.

  15. I am a person tormented

    by a passion that sickens the healthy.

  16. I am a companion of beautiful women

    and a friend of pleasure and wine.

  17. Yet I never approach

    the door of illicit sex.

  18. The dwelling of Ibn Nusayr

    is a trove of fair beauties.

  19. Dah is there, and there is

    no fault in loving Dah.

  20. There is another girl besides Dah,

    fond of pleasure and play.

  21. To reach her, I braved

    the terrors of night and barking dogs.

  22. So leave us with a young woman,

    graceful, her sash loose about her waist.

  23. I wrapped myself in the white folds

    of the full-bodied maiden.

  24. Then, when a rooster crowed

    before the appointed hour of morning,

  25. I said, ‘Crow a thousand times, rooster;

    this is no time to depart—

  26. until I see dawn, even if

    the dawn exposes me.’

Sol 6