Sol 6.1

  1. Sleeplessness has lengthened amid anxiety.

    So take these tales of insomnia.

  2. My tears kept flowing

    until I complained of burning pain.

  3. And had I gone to extremes in

    my lament, the paper would have blackened.

  4. And a radiant-faced one who never tasted rejection,

    nor knew what passionate attachment is.

  5. The snares of his eyelashes were laid,

    and through them I fell into a noose.

  6. A gazelle fawn: when he dons modesty,

    then he is a full moon—compare him with twilight's glow.

  7. So his face recites, 'By the morning brightness,'

    and his tresses chant, 'By the dusk.'

  8. And many a master of reproach—

    I disbelieved what he said about him.

  9. I defended him and did not lie;

    and he spoke of him but told no truth.

  10. There is no flaw in him; the moon's flaw

    at fullness has long been its mottling.

  11. Drowsy-eyed: if his glances look upon you,

    they leave no breath of life.

  12. O lightning flash that cleft the darkness,

    from whose gleam an arrow darted through.

  13. My heart, you, and his earring—

    I pine whenever any of them quivers.

  14. And my tears are water, and yet

    their effect is that of burning.

  15. And ask about the devil of reproach,

    who sought a hearing and was burned.

  16. The darkness lengthened, and red grew the tears

    of the eye, because of black pupils.

  17. He rode the darkness and traveled by night

    to me, forestalling many a reproach.

  18. Fearful, while night's wing folds away

    what his fragrance has spread abroad.

Sol 6.1