Sol 6.1

  1. And indeed I lodged in a place in al-Jazira;

    in such a place, the company of joy gathers.

  2. Its soil is moist; the skirts of its breeze grew dewy,

    so musk wafts from its sleeves.

  3. Its branches danced to its waterwheel;

    so there, in it, they have a cupbearer and a musician.

  4. And the flood—the Nile's flood—is molten gold,

    enriching the land, so its people do not abase themselves.

  5. It suffers no harm, though the sky's brow

    is grim and its eyes shed no tears.

  6. At evening, it becomes coats of mail woven by the east wind;

    and, while that wind lies still, it remains glittering swords.

  7. Winter descended upon it, yet its slender branches

    are green-clad, and the doves coo.

  8. The world is stripped of the robes of its spring

    at such a time, yet on this soil they are bestowed.

  9. And there the mouths of the daisies, together with its blossoms,

    have a discourse heard through the nostrils.

  10. And the feast has arrived; for one like it,

    there is no place of pleasure save in grounds like these.

  11. So invite the yearning one to you for the first time,

    and you have the assurance that he will not go back.

  12. And indeed you suffered one night in union with your young beauty;

    it dragged on, and its darkness would not end.

  13. Black, pitch-dark, she is nicknamed Warda—'Rose';

    and the marvel of the times is a black rose.

Sol 6.1