Sol 6.1

  1. Hear an account from an affectionate brother:

    And it is this: I was a sworn ally of longing,

  2. For a young gazelle, peerless in every grace,

    Fair of cheek and fair of figure,

  3. Like a full moon upon a laurel bough.

    He visited me just now, without prior arrangement;

  4. He came unexpectedly, and I had nothing

    But food not yet prepared:

  5. A hen resembling a dun-colored horse,

    Noble, with India as her boast,

  6. Broad in the [breast], with a prominent chest.

    Along her necklace's course, I drew

  7. A finely honed blade, keen-pointed and sharp-edged,

    Not out of vengeance, nor out of rancor,

  8. But from desire for her, akin to renunciation.

    And with water the slave's hand kept

  9. Plunging between her feathers and her skin.

    And afterward her limbs were cut apart,

  10. With citron pulp the color of honey,

    But its taste was far removed from honey's.

  11. At last, when he had hastened her cooking with fire,

    He [poured] almonds over her, like butter,

  12. And afterward she was topped with rosewater.

    Then he came hurrying with her, like one bearing a gift,

  13. As though she had been perfumed with nadd incense.

Sol 6.1