Sol 6.1

  1. No, by slender figures—an ardent lover's oath—

    No, I have not forsaken the pledge of al-ʿUdhayb and Bāriq.

  2. You thought ill of a sleepless eyelid,

    and listened to the lies of the night-visiting phantom.

  3. And indeed, in yearning I caught up with those who came before,

    on what swift coursers of my streaming tears!

  4. And you sought my heart in marriage for the virgin of your love,

    [Unclear opening] from the house of divorced forgetfulness.

  5. How strange: my eyelids are dyed in mourning,

    as though they were the sheaths of lightning's sword.

  6. It was not content to resemble smiling mouths

    until it borrowed the flutter of the lover's heart.

  7. And my heart's blood for him whose loincloths are choked—so sing it—

    while his sashes and girdles are thirsty.

  8. My eyelid stole sleep; cutting it off is unjust,

    yet amputation is due the treacherous thief.

  9. Because of his eyelids, between my ribs and inward parts,

    lies a sickness too subtle for the skilled physician.

  10. So my tears are the supporters of a heart sent as a messenger,

    among the tribe, warning of runaway sleep.

  11. Its solace deserted it, and its patience turned hypocrite,

    so it stayed between an emigrant and a hypocrite.

  12. O my companion on the dune-day—it is a disgrace,

    if you abandon me, as yesterday, for a dāniq.

  13. You left me the slanderers' target, so you are not trust-

    worthy with the secret of a trusting friend.

  14. And you were free of the torment of yearning and separation,

    so you slept through the yearning lover's night.

  15. So your heart passes the night without yearning, silent

    at heart; nor do the eyelids' tears speak.

  16. And when I offer you the pure essence of love,

    shame lies in your wearing a dissembler's robes toward me.

  17. A keen man's staying makes folly of his good judgment,

    while time hurls his fortune from a great height.

  18. And if you disdain baseness, seek victory

    with the daughters of Aʿwaj or the offspring of Lāḥiq.

  19. Ride them into the wilderness's heart, and let them

    scour the crests of mountain passes and stony hills.

  20. For tomorrow, like your today, will pass and end,

    and today is, in essence, like vanished yesterday.

  21. Do not endure humiliation's hardship sitting idle,

    for honor lies in the edge of the drawn sword.

  22. Thus no noble man's excellence is spread abroad

    except by folding up desert wastes and barren plains.

  23. And how often I have worn the night, then cast it off,

    now amply woven, now tattered to shreds,

  24. from plain, unmarked cloth to a piece patterned

    with dawn, full of gores and gussets.

  25. As though its stars, and what I have embroidered of

    meaning, were strings of long necklaces and little head-veils.

  26. And lightning smiles within the clouds as though it were

    al-ʿAzīz's sword, which he draws in the press of battle.

Sol 6.1