Sol 6

  1. Jamra’s home has grown distant after a brief closeness.

    Distance and long separation now lie between our peoples.

  2. She settled at Tayma among a people who, when they gather,

    have their caller cry out at dawn toward Ash’am.

  3. I once delighted in her while our homes were together

    at al-Kharj, then al-Nahy, al-Awra, and al-Dam.

  4. Until I had my fill of her and satisfied my longing;

    yet such relief only deepens the ache.

  5. Jamra seemed—or, if any likeness could do her justice—

    to my eyes, on the day we met at Arāmim,

  6. like a gentle rise drenched by pouring rain,

    grown lush through the passing of many years.

  7. Whenever its soil dries, steady rains moisten it,

    from a cloud pouring down its water.

  8. No one has grazed it, and it has flourished for a time:

    a hollow of land ringed by landmarks.

  9. You hear birds singing along its edges,

    their voices like the voices of singers.

  10. The scent of its lavender and fragrant herbs

    at night is like the scent of aloeswood and aromatic woods.

  11. Is it not folly for a gray-haired man to recall

    the pleasures of nights and days long past?

  12. And a watering place where the people near it cannot sleep

    for fear, secluded, its water scant:

  13. I spent the night guarding it alone, while I was held back

    by the cries of beasts and owls there.

  14. All I managed was to look toward it in the night,

    then turn back to my swift, sturdy she-camel.

  15. I poured water into her trough for her to drink,

    an old, worn thing with broken supports.

  16. But she shunned the water and sniffed it with her lip,

    then went on, her gaze fixed straight ahead.

  17. She turned away as one turns from what is forbidden him:

    a Christian wine-server before Easter, standing firm.

  18. On her I cross one stretch of country after another,

    until she is made to kneel beside the troughs of Dirsam.

Sol 6