Sol 5.6

  1. O two mountains of Nuʿmān, by God, let through

    the east wind’s breath, that its breeze may reach me.

  2. For the east wind is a wind that, whenever it breathes

    upon a sorrowing heart, makes its cares melt away.

  3. I feel its coolness—or it soothes the burning in me—

    in a liver of which only the innermost core remains.

  4. O two mountains of Wadi ʿUrayʿira, home of her who

    has gone far from my people’s abode—surely her coming is due.

  5. O let the south wind’s course run free; perhaps

    its breeze will heal my heart of its consuming anguish.

  6. But how can the wind heal a longing that lingers,

    and an eye whose tears have streamed so long?

  7. And bear word to a Tamimi caravan setting forth at dawn

    toward the House, hoping to lay its wounds to rest:

  8. that in the folds of al-Raghām there is a stranger,

    distraught and bereaved, whose moaning has long endured,

  9. her innards rent by love’s consuming anguish

    and the torment of a clinging longing that never leaves her.

Sol 5.6