Sol 6.1

  1. Listen, tell that woman of Malik: keep me company;

    otherwise, give us hope of meeting you, and lie.

  2. Promise us, for the soul is deceived by hopes,

    and a young man's heart is like a restless bird.

  3. And you may trust one who always keeps his distance,

    despite the nearness of one who approaches with ease and welcome.

  4. For if a mother close to you were to shun you,

    you would turn from her to a distant one who draws you close.

  5. When a man's soul despairs of a woman close to him,

    another is put in her place, mount after mount.

  6. So do not hold me in humiliation, for I

    leave humiliation behind, bound for the well-trodden road.

  7. I kept my soul bound to you for two years, seeing no

    favor, nor a promise followed by fulfillment.

  8. Had I girded myself, I would not have been the first to depart

    with my saddle from barren ground to land not barren.

  9. But I close my eyelids over the grit,

    and guard what you entrusted to me in your absence.

  10. And you, for all that you drew me close and chose me,

    are empty of that, and have kept me far off like an offender.

  11. Like a woman saying: the donkey—so keep it

    away from alfalfa—is worthy of refined sesame.

  12. And love is only infatuation, then closeness;

    if it is not so, passion is a fox's dodging.

Sol 6.1