Sol 6.1

  1. O my night! I did not sleep, from longing and sleeplessness,

    until I saw that dawn's whiteness had returned.

  2. I cried 'God is greatest!' when I saw dawn breaking,

    driving away the remnants of a dark night, gone or nearly gone.

  3. And an evening visitor, one of the half-brothers, reproached me,

    and knew nothing of love's impetuous summons.

  4. I hid from him some of what I suffer, and said to him:

    I cannot resist love's urgings; I yield to them.

  5. Days that my love envies, when I myself was envied

    for what I could not attain, by women who were envious.

  6. Then all that passed, save the memory of our place of play

    in the house, as we avoided a spying eye and watchers.

  7. Longing left me nothing of Juml and her neighbor

    but sorrows returning at night in armies.

  8. I once had a promise from her, but it failed me,

    and I was not stingy, nor did I break an appointment.

  9. Alas for her—a sweetheart whose promises were

    like the night, when dreams deceive sleepers.

  10. I fed my soul hopes of her, until I was reproached,

    and love wore me thin, drawing me near and sending me away.

  11. O seeker of pleasure, passing by and crossing the way,

    come—you have found your desire, if you are seeking it.

  12. If thrusting from the front and from behind delights you,

    then visit Hammad, son of Simin, the two-headed one.

  13. Whoever gives him a dirham fucks his sweetheart,

    and a pleasure-seeking fucker is in the householder's ass.

  14. The son of Nihya follows his father's ways:

    he denies no guest sustenance from a wife of his.

  15. He has caught Bakr and Ya'fur for his women,

    after al-Muthanna—away with what he caught!

  16. I certainly know Hammad and his mettle,

    at an encounter, whether plotted against or plotting.

  17. Tough when you are gentle, when you deal honestly with him;

    of Nihya's clan—when you shake him, he veers away.

  18. There is no marvel except Hammad, Abu Umar:

    he spends the day a leopard, and prowls at night a leopard-hunter.

  19. Swollen-testicled, like a wineskin tied by its cord,

    thrusting has spread him wide, going out and coming in.

  20. Shameful deeds swoop down on him at every sunrise,

    like the rush of sandgrouse racing to water to drink.

  21. Pleasure is sweet for Hammad, Abu Umar;

    when his dawn comes, he fears no ambush.

  22. He meets his female relatives, swaggering with a prancing gait,

    and never sees a fawn without trembling or swaying.

  23. O rider of the beardless man, rushing to spur him,

    gallop on—you are the son of a foster-parent who was a pimp.

  24. Al-Sawani is devoured and oppressed,

    so his bird seems not to care when it roams.

  25. How many a shameful trait you have, Hammad,

    inherited from a foreign lout of a father and from ancestors!

  26. Unrelated women do not yield their forbidden intimacies,

    so thrust with your spear at the milked one and the prolific breeder.

Sol 6.1