Sol 6.1

  1. O Suad, be generous—may I never be cured of Suad!

    And draw close with your love to a lovelorn, ever-returning visitor.

  2. Indeed, the visit left in his heart

    Rapture, which in turn brought infatuation and ruin.

  3. What do you decree for a visitor you sent away

    On Thursday, though he had hoped for an appointment?

  4. You held back a piece of his soul, and he scattered it;

    And you were stingy, so he made his sorrows a pillow.

  5. And you left him standing before you, in need,

    That he might grow more needy—woe to him if he does!

  6. They said, 'We weary you with love, while we are wearied

    By earning a living; you have not known such toil.'

  7. And indeed I marveled at the frail one when she appeared,

    Bending Usama: he bent and yielded.

  8. A lion hunted down by a young gazelle—

    No fawn before you ever hunted lions.

  9. And indeed I say to a delirious companion of mine,

    Who has died of passion for her, or nearly died:

  10. How long will you burden me with youthful passion and wear me away?

    Rather, would that another were my heart, O heart!

  11. You have kept recalling her face and her words,

    Since you departed, and never thought of the hereafter.

  12. Su'da keeps her distance, while you take risks;

    Have you then accepted separation along with the risk?

  13. Awake, she denied you what you love, and was not generous

    In her sleep; when, then, will she be generous?

  14. And when you sought her promises, she was stingy with them,

    Down to her very heart; she clasped your hand like a lifeless thing.

  15. Was it with the glance of your languid eye that you caught him?

    Never have I heard of one like him being captured.

  16. A golden-hued, companionable woman; her veil is adorned

    By an eye that brings sleeplessness to other eyes.

  17. If she is not the moon of heaven, she is

    Like lush pasture that delights its seekers.

  18. And indeed it seemed to me that I would die of love for her;

    So my tears poured onto my cloak in a generous flood.

  19. So she suspended her visit, not out of reproach,

    For fear of the watcher, for a stretch of time.

  20. She spoke, and what I heard set my tears speaking

    On behalf of every woman who speaks aright.

  21. And what she heard seemed to him, through her speech, like

    Harut stealing sleep from his two eyes.

  22. And he remained, fearing he would go mad with longing,

    And fearing his heart would die if he returned.

Sol 6.1