Sol 5.6

  1. I wrote to you while an eye of mine

    poured forth its streaming tears in floods for you;

  2. and my heart melts in passion’s fire,

    nor am I so sparing of my heart that I would not let it melt.

  3. Whoever conceals the secret within his breast

    amid love’s burning thirst has endured agonies.

  4. Whoever is tried by parting from the beloved

    encounters in yearning something wondrous.

  5. I had indeed thought myself steadfast,

    hardy in strength whenever I faced calamities;

  6. then I failed to recognize myself, and found myself

    weak in strength when I lost the beloved.

  7. For in love my eyelid has grown used to streaming tears,

    and in love my heart has grown used to throbbing.

  8. I complained of his love to my eye,

    and it shed blood-red tears upon my cheek.

  9. And when his reproach persisted too long,

    and I found within me no share of patience,

  10. I sent him a lament of longing,

    and hoped that he would soon return.

  11. But Fate held him back; its decree

    for everyone who hopes is that they be disappointed.

  12. Indeed I, in the extremity of my waiting for him,

    and fearing that some hindrance might intervene,

  13. am like one awaiting the breaking of the fast on a fasting day,

    watching the sun until it sets;

  14. or like one afflicted through the night by illness,

    watching for morning and hoping for the physician.

Sol 5.6