Sol 5.6

  1. Nay—by nights at al-Ḥimā in Najd,

    that have never left my remembrance or my passion—my passion.

  2. Whenever al-ʿAqīq has been mentioned since it first appeared,

    tears have streamed from my eye down my cheek.

  3. O bāna tree there, whose glance heralds death,

    how sweet my sleeplessness in loving her has become!

  4. A tender maiden—her face challenges the full moons,

    and her hair proclaims “al-Jaʿdī”—the curly one.

  5. She stirs my longing when she appears, saying:

    “This is not love’s compact, O you far from me.”

  6. She loosened the veil from her pomegranate-blossom cheek,

    and bared the pomegranates of that bosom.

  7. She smiled, revealing moist pearls, and

    radiance and fresh palm-blossom, gleaming fresh.

  8. I thrilled to her speech and her smiling mouth;

    I knew not which was more precious to me.

  9. Wonder of wonders: an oryx-doe’s glance is her glance,

    yet at her hands we are dealt with as by a lion.

  10. By her stature she towers proudly, then goes forth

    charging with her glance and the spear of her figure.

  11. Her dark eyes, drunk with enchantment, rioted among us,

    and her fair charms exceeded every bound.

  12. Slender-waisted: no sooner does she trail her mantle’s skirts

    than Ibn Burd has learned her portrait by heart.

  13. As though Riḍwān once grew heedless of guarding her,

    and she escaped from the Gardens of Eternity.

  14. Tell the man who said, “Rock candy has become

    her saliva, and the rose falls short of her cheek”—

  15. “You err! Away with rock candy; nor is this

    mere spite—the rose deserves no deference.”

  16. Ah, love! I have become her bondsman, her slave.

    If only she would say to me, “O my slave!”

  17. Even if she called me—her slave—by the name Saʿd,

    I would say, “This completes my happiness.”

  18. O my censor, spare me your counsel, for

    your counsel cannot help me in love.

  19. With what excuse shall I face her beauty if

    I set out seeking error after guidance?

  20. May I cease to be if ever I harbor a thought of forgetting; nor

    may I attain my desire from the Sun of Glory.

Sol 5.6