Sol 5.6

  1. Ah, many a youth, radiant of brow—as though

    the tracery of his first beard upon both cheeks were script.

  2. Eyes are captivated by his countenance, awestruck,

    while discerning minds spend the night enamored of his intellect.

  3. Over him was draped a gauzy robe fashioned from morning,

    dewy, and a veil woven from the sky’s twilight.

  4. So I bent and drank the water of youth at a spring

    from which a mirage, like a shirt, had been torn away.

  5. There, the gentle wind breathed

    fragrance, and the fresh water surged in billows.

  6. And many a tender-bodied one, wading, stretched

    his figure out as a meteor cleaves the sky.

  7. Indeed, I made my camel kneel beside its two banks, while I was stirred

    to rapture by youth that delighted me, and by wine.

  8. And I wept for its Tigris, while upon it laughed with me

    in merriment a beloved who made me yearn—and the water’s bubbles.

Sol 5.6