Sol 5.6

  1. Come with me, you two roses, for I am a lover.

    Do not frighten me away from you, O tressed one.

  2. Dawn rose and swiftly kept faith

    on their behalf—for dawn is a faithful dawn.

  3. Night fell silent, and radiant morning greeted it.

    Indeed, it rends every seam and speaks aloud.

  4. The ardent lover brought forth from among them a radiant rising one.

    Take my heart as a gift, O beloved.

  5. My being among them lies in my very nonbeing

    whenever a radiance dawns through my being.

  6. Burning with passion and drowning in blood,

    these two abolished free choice and every hindrance.

  7. The pains of their abandonment were strung through me,

    and love of them is the master arranger’s art:

  8. a malady—alas!—and my anguish is chronic,

    before which the discerning physician stands bewildered.

  9. An influx from the Real abides forever,

    while falsehood is a thing destined to perish.

  10. My anguish is my fire, and my longing the kindler

    of its blaze—and the censor is pitch-dark.

  11. Through ignorance, the censor has gone too far against me;

    the taster knows fresh, pure water.

  12. O my beloved ones, if my censor passes by you,

    turn him away, for he is the transgressor.

  13. Ah, by the covenant upon which I have lived—by it

    I am faithful and true in love.

  14. Jacob was wrapped in a shroud over his Joseph,

    out of grief—where is the rent shirt?

  15. I breathe in the wind, but no Joseph is there;

    my grief has lingered long, O inhaler of the scent.

  16. An eastern yearning seized me with longing;

    the night folded away, and lightning flashed.

  17. I said, “O night, have we reached the sanctuary?”

    It said, “That is only a false fancy of yours.”

  18. “Divorce sleep, that you may attain your desires.”

    I said, “Everything, along with my sleep, is divorced.”

  19. It said, “Glad tidings! These are their valley floors.

    By my truth, you are worthy of union.”

  20. I rose while night still lay in its choking gloom,

    a night visitor—and my tears, too, came knocking.

  21. I drank the cup directly from its fountain:

    a pure draught, and a limpid tavern.

  22. My companions saw how ragged my garment was

    and marveled: “Is this ragged man the former leader?”

  23. Then they said, “Indeed, this is the hidden one—

    his sun has shone, so this man is a thief.”

  24. They sought the measuring cup, but they were mistaken;

    the camels surged, and the driver flew away.

  25. I could never accept Egypt as a homeland,

    though it holds my mighty lord and my lofty station.

  26. A union of utter immersion, an all-embracing mode,

    a fragrance traveling abroad, and richly fragrant musk.

  27. I am chosen for the Chosen One, his devoted friend,

    a night traveler journeying by night through every land.

  28. You will see the West within our East—

    oh, what a gathering, what a wondrous union!

  29. Distinctions fold themselves within our depths;

    how wondrous within it is this distinction!

  30. God exalts among us whoever is truthful,

    and through us the vile renegade is disgraced.

  31. The advent of the pure, noble Chosen One

    has appeared faintly—and this is the forerunner.

  32. A forerunner withdrew from one who followed,

    while the follower raced behind the foremost.

  33. When the Chosen One’s palm appeared

    to the beloved youth, who is himself the lover—

  34. he attained, once its sustaining gifts reached him,

    for the affair of bestowal has an unseen driver.

  35. A decree before which the people of wisdom stood baffled:

    a sheer enigma and a surging sea.

  36. The lights are unveiled at their place of rising;

    therefore one is effaced, while another shines forth.

  37. And when the All-Merciful, in His presence,

    traces a line, it is a decree made sure.

  38. Say to whoever opposed Him out of envy:

    How can one whom the Creator has given drink go blind?

Sol 5.6