Sol 5.6

  1. You two, pause at Mayrouba amid her ruins;

    and gaze upon her valleys and her hills.

  2. The spring’s waters run among her gardens,

    until you take the water for one of her serpents.

  3. However you turn, rivulets hasten toward you,

    laughing at the birds’ talk and chatter.

  4. There, a river’s water courses in a rippling chain,

    flowing like silver between her mountains.

  5. The trees sway around its banks,

    and in it the water sketches their reflected forms.

  6. Her trees have a fragrance that wafts amber-sweet,

    renewing the spirits of her laborers.

  7. Groves of willow have canopied the earth,

    so the summer visitor settles at ease beneath their shade.

  8. Sannine gazes upon her earth and sky

    with the eyes of an ardent lover, enthralled by her beauty.

  9. It is as though she lives only for union with him,

    and he lives only for union with her.

  10. She is a graceful maiden dwelling in Keserwan,

    snaring the masters of love in her cords.

  11. She took from the apple the redness of her cheek,

    and from the walnut’s verdure the green of her beauty mark.

  12. With sidelong glances she bewitched her companions,

    so they envied the magic in her people’s eyes.

  13. Where else could her knight find the beauty of her meadows,

    and vistas smiling beside her waterfall?

Sol 5.6