Sol 5.6

  1. My two companions, if I should reach Nineveh, would I

    have a road to al-Jazʿ in the Valley of Arak?

  2. And shall I travel by night with the Yemeni caravan,

    while the forelegs of the riding-camels sway beneath their saddles?

  3. In the wind’s swift rush, if only you both knew, there is

    a cure for me, though the very breeze be ailing.

  4. And in that gazelle herd which you two behold

    is a dark gazelle, downcast of gaze and naturally kohled—

  5. sweet-lipped, its neck stretched high toward the caravan,

    elusive to the hunters’ hands, forever keeping them waiting.

  6. How many a full-fleshed maiden is among them, as though

    white honey and wine flowed within her mouth.

  7. They have wrapped themselves in Yemeni striped mantles, as though

    they were bundled boughs touched by a hint of withering.

  8. We have become ensnared by you, gazelle of al-Ṣarīm, in hope:

    Have you some favor for us—will you then bestow it?

  9. Bestow a boon—or do not repeat your glance;

    for by the first glance, this morning, I am slain.

  10. When the necks of your riding-camels jostle together

    and a hurried camel-driver urges the caravan onward,

  11. I lay one palm after the other upon my breast,

    see myself struck senseless, and sway.

  12. I yearn, though cruelty drives me onward against my longing.

    Ah, may no ghoul ravage the bond between you and me!

  13. It is not remembrance of the beloved that has kept me from sleep;

    it is only that my night in Iraq is long.

Sol 5.6