Sol 5.6

  1. My beloved passed by and stopped,

    and the eye is the heart’s ally.

  2. O wonder! He tore it apart,

    though he had never devoted himself to it.

  3. By the faith of the devotees of love,

    generation following generation;

  4. and by that night of union,

    through which ardor effaced the heart;

  5. by what my inmost soul concealed,

    and by the swearer and all that he swore:

  6. Never did the breeze flutter but—

    —yearning fluttered through the soul.

  7. It agitated me until I confessed—

    —myself enamored, a man consumed by passion.

  8. Passion may overcome secrecy,

    and concealment here is mere chance.

  9. One who conceals it may even die—

    indeed, and such a death is honor.

  10. Love gives the young man away,

    whether he hides it or confesses.

  11. It is written upon the faces of those

    who have some share in love;

  12. it may be read upon their brows.

    Whoever has known love knows this.

Sol 5.6