Sol 5.6

  1. O Layla—if only our meeting

    would last and never turn to parting.

  2. I embraced you after union long delayed,

    and passion made the embrace sweeter still.

  3. Your love has set the tears of my eyes flowing

    since the morning I clasped your form at our meeting.

  4. How can I bear, O Layla, a farewell

    when the burden of separation from you is beyond endurance?

  5. Tell me, then, of yourself, O Layla; as for me,

    my love for you, O Layla, endures.

  6. Indeed, whether near or far, the lover

    yearns for the one he loves, O Layla.

  7. I journeyed to you over the sea in running ships,

    and through the wilderness on the saddles of she-camels.

  8. I reached scum-covered waterholes,

    bitter to consume and bitter to taste.

  9. Whoever seeks the beloved cares nothing

    for plunging into peril or for drowning.

  10. Can I bear separation from you, O Layla—

    and the abyss of my anguish on the day we part?

  11. Could I forget the stopping places and the journeys,

    my intimate companionship and my evening draughts?

  12. You are my lifeblood and the light of my eyes,

    my heart, my hearing, and my very wholeness.

  13. God suffices me at the hour of farewell, for I

    am steeped in grief, care, and burning anguish.

  14. I send up one sigh after another;

    they are forever a canopy for my soul.

  15. O noble Layla, at our farewell a cupbearer

    gave me the cup of longing for you to drink.

  16. O noble Layla, there arose within me

    your soaring love, fully astir.

  17. It was as though, the day I was with you, I had scarcely pitched a tent

    when I was summoned to depart without warning.

  18. O Layla, in the aftermath of separation,

    I asked God to permit our reunion.

  19. May the cords of hope for my reunion never be severed,

    nor may my yearning ever stop short of reaching you.

  20. Through union with you I hope my sins will be stripped away,

    while farewell lays a heavy burden on my very being.

  21. O God, though my deeds have been frivolous,

    Your pardon! You possess resplendent bounties.

  22. Protect me, for in You I seek refuge;

    I have no protector but You, O God.

  23. O my Lord, guard me from the evil of my own soul,

    and purify my inmost heart of hypocrisy.

  24. Grant me bounty from You in both worlds,

    and deal gently with whatever comes and whatever I encounter.

  25. In this world, grant me lawful provision,

    and stand between me and those given to discord.

  26. Grant me well-being; and in my hereafter, bestow upon me

    the Abode of Eternity and the brimming cup.

Sol 5.6