Sol 5.6

  1. O reproacher, surely your reproach is doomed to waste;

    a man, after all, makes merry in his youth.

  2. O reproacher, I shall not please you where Sulayma is concerned,

    nor spare you wonder at my playing the youthful lover.

  3. Women who awaken longing refuse to let me come to my senses,

    drawing me toward them like purebred Arab mares.

  4. And in the morning, my longing for Sulayma—

    her love came to me through every door.

  5. She said, “Among women are those enfolded in veils,

    who quicken their gait amid youth’s fresh leaves.

  6. So judge the unveiled woman, whether in blame or praise,

    but let no eye behind a veil deceive you.

  7. A palace may fill your eye when you behold it,

    its doorway newly built, its interior a ruin.”

  8. I told her, “Leave my heart to Salma,

    and speak of women without favoritism.”

  9. Tale-bearers have indeed cast slander upon Sulayma,

    speaking among the distant and among companions;

  10. yet their slander did not drive Sulayma away,

    nor did I appease them when reproach came.

  11. Whenever they set themselves against her, I defended her,

    though sometimes I helped them when they were right.

  12. Oh, what a marvel is love everlasting!

    The jealous man among whores is proof enough:

  13. he neglects his own women, yet spends his day guarding

    all the world’s women from the amorous rake.

  14. How many a man like him, exhausted and tormented,

    a stricken man demanding vengeance for no blood-debt!

  15. I have filled his heart with rage and grief.

    Ah, what woe pursuit brings the lover!

  16. Whenever I desire, my own bliss embitters me

    and sets my tears coursing like bubbles on water.

  17. The angry tell lies about Sulayma—

    can one find a truthful soul among the angry?

  18. So I said to Waqid and Yazid’s two sons,

    while the two had heeded my words among dear friends:

  19. “By the Lord of Mina, the two have surely lied about her,

    as tale-bearers lied about the raven:

  20. they imputed one-eyedness to its eye, though it goes forth

    sound in both eyes, free of defect.

  21. May neither tale-bearers nor jealous men remain,

    so that life perhaps may grow serene for lovers.”

Sol 5.6