Sol 6.1

  1. O brother of virtue and generosity, O Abu al-

    ʿAbbās, adornment of the middle-aged and the young!

  2. You are peerless in chivalry and youthful vigor;

    not all young men are true gallants.

  3. What has become of us after his companionship and affection,

    and mutual goodwill in private and in public?

  4. You have deliberately forgotten us; our bond has now become

    a captive in estrangement's grip.

  5. And we have left the gate of your memory; memory

    laments oblivion's gloating.

  6. Live happily and drink with pleasure—and may you never lack

    distinguished men among the noblest of friends—

  7. of wine as though it were melted raw gold,

    liquid, or the juice of saffron,

  8. which wards off cares from the drinkers' souls

    and brings dead hopes back to life,

  9. in gardens for which autumn has woven brocade,

    so they have become, in beauty, like the gardens of Paradise.

  10. A dwelling stood amid the Tigris; within it

    you had a courtyard where both eyes grazed.

  11. What a hand, whose fingers rain down bounty

    in torrents, has alighted at Banān's house!

  12. Nothing marred it but al-Hadādī's presence;

    may the All-Merciful's curses be upon him!

  13. How did you bring him near, when al-Hadādī's face

    shatters joy at the sight of it?

  14. And his repeated, insipid tales

    become clouds of nausea.

  15. You used to complain of the place's heat; but when

    he settled there, you complained of the place's cold.

Sol 6.1