Sol 6.1

  1. He gave me drink from the twin cups of his saliva and his wine.

    But for slumber, I would never have gained a kiss upon his veil.

  2. God help me with a heart that, whenever I sip his saliva,

    Finds its burning thirst growing fiercer from that coolness;

  3. And an eyelid his eyelid denied the pleasure of closing,

    While bitter wakefulness replaced the sweetness of its sleep.

  4. One of the graceful beauties—if my hands could grasp his glance,

    I would be harsh toward his lovers with his sword.

  5. His two anklets spoke, and his smile told tales;

    Oh, the anguish his anklet and his smile bring!

  6. An alif from his stature afflicts me; great is the anguish

    It brings, and cheek-down wears away my heart with its lām.

  7. And he has spent the night secure in a life of ease;

    So what harm would it do him if I could embrace his form?

  8. Indeed, the yearning heart has kept its pledges,

    And my ears have disregarded excessive reproach over him.

  9. His face resembled the dawn of joy, and his hair

    Was like sorrow’s night in its length and darkness.

  10. Whatever I forget, I shall not forget youth and the playgrounds

    To which one far away waves his greeting.

  11. I yearn for the days of youth and its companionship,

    And weep with burning grief at its desertion and passing.

  12. His body has water’s limpid softness, but his heart

    Is hard as solid rock toward the one madly in love with him.

  13. May God water Qasioun’s two slopes and its Sahm,

    And what the two lower slopes of its cave and shrine embrace,

  14. With unceasing rain: whenever it covers a wilderness’s breast,

    The face of its cloud banishes drought’s hand.

  15. And a lightning flash among the clouds, before its sun,

    Is like a cupbearer’s patterned kerchief above his goblet.

  16. And the breeze’s hand has clothed its pool

    In coats of mail that the rain has struck with its arrows.

  17. The water’s heart is a tattler, revealing every mote

    To the breast of a lover who openly declares his passion.

  18. When the slender boughs dance and are applauded

    By their streams, exulting in the song of its doves.

  19. And oh, how lovely the breeze’s passing over the heart,

    Though it has infected the heart with its sickness.

  20. When the sunlight gilds the water with its fire,

    I marvel at the water’s coolness beneath its blaze.

  21. And morning’s face is bright-browed and smiling,

    Like Safi al-Din’s face on the day of his greeting.

Sol 6.1