Sol 5.6

  1. Your stature, then your glance, O youth—

    as though they were a straightened lance and a keen sword.

  2. The keen white swords and lofty lances

    take pride in this comparison and smile.

  3. And how could swords accomplish what these—

    glances do, or lances possess this stature?

  4. With the knot of your sash, within my heart I bound

    a passion whose bond can never break.

  5. Lay your weapon aside—you have no need of it,

    for you are the valiant, heroic knight.

  6. Whenever you are unarmed, you bristle with—

    weapons; the vast host itself fears you.

  7. A dusky youth brandished a tawny lance amid a battalion;

    above it the full moon gleamed in all its fullness,

  8. from behind doubled chain mail, wearing a veil;

    and that very veil redoubled his beauty.

  9. He guarded the apples of his cheeks with an eye

    so sound that languor never leaves it.

  10. Keep those wide eyes away from me!

    For passion has flourished within narrow pupils.

  11. The eyes of the Turks pierce deeper into battle than—

    their arrows, when the dust-cloud rises.

  12. Can those whose eyes are wide open do what the—

    tightly closed eyes do when arrows clash?

  13. He has a body fashioned from the noblest light;

    mighty are the trials with which his Maker tested us through him.

  14. From his saliva we have lawful wine,

    whose qualities forbidden wine itself longs to possess.

  15. Ah, how I thirst for the coolness within his mouth!

    For in his mouth, together with that coolness, is wine.

  16. He is the idol made manifest—were it not for the—

    fear of God, all humankind would stray through him.

  17. Then draw the scorpions of his temple-locks

    to the serpent of his forelock—he cannot be approached.

  18. Only a snake-charmer can encompass all that,

    one who has encompassed the utmost desires—and enough said.

  19. Pass round the cup of wine and display it in

    robes of crystal, all ablaze:

  20. well-aged, deep red in color, and pure,

    with fragrant musk as its seal.

  21. In every mouth it leaves the warmth of ginger;

    when it breathes its fragrance, it makes one forget a cold.

  22. Upon the darkness of night it pours the light of—

    day, and darkness lifts from us.

  23. From the pearls of its bubbles it has a necklace—

    ah, how lovely is that strand!

  24. Whenever it descends into a heart, there settles within it—

    joy, while care flees in routed flight.

Sol 5.6