Sol 5.6

  1. And I am swept by a flood of longing, flood after flood;

    With it I plunge deep into the waters of my eyelids.

  2. It is nothing but intoxication after intoxication;

    When it passes, it lingers still—a hangover.

  3. You departed—and with you went my patience, my youth, my homeland;

    For our loved ones departed, racing one another away.

  4. Whoever’s eye has never met the light of his sun

    Cannot see until he beholds it by daylight.

  5. May God let my tears water the land of the two Ghoutas;

    Clouds enough for you are what I have sent, pouring in torrents.

  6. Egypt has not beguiled me away from the sweetness of her home,

    Nor given me a neighbor to replace my neighbor.

  7. O home of youth, no dwelling-place can equal your grounds;

    Every dwelling but you—even the friendliest—I see as desolate waste.

  8. After your people, I found no neighbors to stand in for family,

    Nor, after you, did I deem the seat of empire a home.

Sol 5.6