Sol 6

  1. He remembered the days of youth and felt pain,

    And an age in the prime of youth that had passed away,

  2. And a time of pleasure that beloved ones made seem brief;

    In it I was given the sealed wine of their sweet mouths.

  3. So I shed rosy tears from my eyes,

    And could not tell whether what fell was water or blood.

  4. Love kindled burning pangs in my heart,

    Pangs of longing that sent forth fiery sighs.

  5. God help me with a heart that, when it remembers parting,

    Aches over those days and voices its grievance.

  6. Among the things that grieved me was a familiar place I had never known

    To be empty, and a dwelling that crumbled after they left.

  7. The homes of those loved ones, whose people have departed,

    Have become divided spoils in the hands of decay and separation.

  8. I passed through them, and old playgrounds stopped me,

    Where I once trailed youth's embroidered cloak.

  9. I could scarcely recognize the ruins, so worn were they,

    Empty of loved ones, except by imagining them.

  10. The appointed time for being near them

    Was welcome; when nearness grew scarce, it became hateful.

  11. Is it not strange, among so many strange things,

    That an eloquent man should speak of love to one who cannot speak?

  12. He asks the traces of their homes about the one

    Who left them: where has that person settled and pitched camp?

  13. And when he came to address the ruins, they almost

    Spoke, for they recognized him.

  14. They are the dwellings of loved ones, toward which he swiftly urges

    A strong camel with supple forelegs.

  15. It plays with the folds of its reins, though it bears

    The pain of Waj, which has left its swift tread no hoof to spare.

  16. The camel's flanks rise above a dark hue

    That the eye, seeing it, would take for red sandalwood.

  17. If the loved ones went up to Najd, love took me up to Najd;

    If they went down toward Tihama, passion took me there.

  18. My two friends, will you not comfort your companion,

    Now that the people have brought forward their bridled mounts?

  19. After the distance that separation brings,

    Will you help one consumed by love for the beloved?

  20. And what good can help do when

    Swift young camels carry them away, outstripping even ostriches?

  21. When those domed litters are lifted from the protected grounds,

    And the driver of their camels sings out in melody,

  22. Let him call me, though I suffer the burning sting of love;

    Then neither are you of me, nor am I of you.

  23. My eyes, this is the moment of parting: pour forth

    Tears enough to spare the lover any reproach.

  24. When parting becomes certain and they resolve

    To depart, what have I but the urging of camels and you two?

  25. With them I cross a passage through the vast desert;

    When the camels pass beside it, I make for another passage.

  26. I press on, while beneath my companions are young camels,

    Weary ones following the bridled noble mount.

  27. Besides them are descendants of al-Jadīl and Shadqam,

    Fine camels that put al-Jadīl and Shadqam to shame.

  28. With them I cross a sea of mirage, and they turn

    To traverse a dark stretch of night.

  29. There I keep company with a sharp Indian blade,

    A supple brown spear, and a lean, powerful horse,

  30. And with resolve that advances when warriors falter

    And shrink from death on the day of battle,

  31. And with horsemen whose hearts never tire

    Of meeting sharp blades and straight spears.

  32. Wherever they may be in the land, I go, for

    I find life bitter unless we remain in touch.

  33. If the loved ones bring their visits near to me,

    And reunion leaves the firesteel of separation without a spark,

  34. And they listen to my whispered words, a complaint

    Whose taste I found as bitter as colocynth,

  35. I shall tell them of the hidden longing I felt when one home held us together,

    While the tale-bearers were unaware.

  36. In words that make the garden envious, as it appears

    Pleasing to the eye in its finely patterned dress:

  37. A wondrous carpet spreads among the kinds of plants,

    Patterned with white daisies.

  38. No raincloud letting loose its torrents

    To stream down over the dwellings,

  39. While thunder rolls within it and lightning flashes,

    Embroidering a striped cloak for the clouds,

  40. Pours more abundantly than my tears just after their departure,

    When I visited the departing people's dwelling and its familiar site.

Sol 6