Sol 5.6

  1. Will you speak of Ruqayya by allusion, or declare it openly?

    For passion is a great revealer of whoever follows it, even briefly.

  2. I seek refuge in the two folds of your girdle, Ruqayya—either

    a favor from you, or a death that brings relief.

  3. Whenever her namesake is mentioned, it is as though

    I see a handsome man wasting my liver away because of her.

  4. They said, “Give up Ruqayya and keep away from her.”

    My leaving her will be when the Messiah appears.

  5. Does God not know that my love

    for Ruqayya—my very ribs have already enfolded it?

  6. I love you, for your neck is Salma’s very neck,

    and your eyes—O gazelle of auspicious passage!

  7. May I ransom you! Why am I shunned, though guilty of no sin?

    And why, when your love is rich gain to me?

  8. I am as one convalescing after the aftermath of a fever,

    and the soundest faculty remaining to me is unimpaired sight.

Sol 5.6