Sol 6

  1. Only love can heal the wounded heart.

    And nothing else brings it joy, even when love is painful.

  2. One whose heart remains empty of passion

    Is like a thirsty person whom no spring can satisfy.

  3. Time is a torrent sweeping humanity away

    Through a night of events, darker and more turbid still.

  4. How fitting that two hearts meeting amid it

    Should forget their misery and find delight.

  5. As two strangers meet on a fearful road,

    Both worn down by the long journey.

  6. How many lovers forget their troubles through love

    And glimpse the face of bliss in imagination.

  7. Like a traveler on rough ground captivated by a star's beauty:

    His feet bleed while his eyes remain on the sky.

  8. And if disaster strikes him in love,

    He would rather perish than live on unharmed.

  9. May God forgive a lover martyred by his passion,

    Who found wounds wherever he expected balm.

  10. He was a young man of standing, learning, and intelligence,

    Noble in character, beloved and honored.

  11. Yet whenever someone's good fortune grows great,

    Misfortune may come to him greater still.

  12. Asma captivated his mind from his coming of age,

    And his passion grew as he grew.

  13. He loved her as a singular heavenly maiden,

    As though the light from her were a smile.

  14. Her qualities appeared in the mirror of his heart,

    Where passion fixed them firmly.

  15. Her hair was like night, its darkness lit

    By the white of day, dazzling whoever looked closely.

  16. And her eyes were like two stars in the depth of night;

    Together they held the world's blessing and its sorrow.

  17. The lashes of her eyelids seemed like rays

    Arranged in bright rows and reflected from her eyes.

  18. And a finely shaped nose of pure ivory

    Seemed to breathe out love with every breath.

  19. Envious women spread exaggerated slander about it,

    But what case has a slanderer when truth silences her?

  20. A feature sound in itself may be counted a flaw in one place

    And elsewhere complete a person's beauty.

  21. An unusual feature may adorn a face

    And make its whole arrangement more beautiful.

  22. And a mouth like a glass through which wine shines,

    Crowned by an ordered line of bubbles.

  23. And a waist beneath her broad chest,

    So slender it seemed twisted within her dress.

  24. When she approached, she was like a fruit-laden branch

    That bends slightly and then rises straight.

  25. He fell for her as a guileless, playful child,

    And reached manhood lovesick and enthralled.

  26. He stayed beside her like a shadow, never parting,

    Yearning and infatuated as nights passed.

  27. With the days she grew more radiant,

    And his admiration and infatuation grew.

  28. He lived in ignorance through his love for her,

    Concealing the hope buried within him.

  29. He rejoiced like a child when its mother draws near

    And wept when she left, like an orphaned child.

  30. She did not draw him close in the bloom of youth to heal him,

    Nor send him away earlier so he might be weaned from her.

  31. So he wrote to her, telling her of his torment,

    And humbly begged her to soften and show compassion.

  32. But she turned away, and the fortress of his patience collapsed;

    Unable to fend off despair, he surrendered.

  33. For which mighty king was this lofty palace built,

    Towerlike, with no towers grander than it?

  34. It girded itself with bands of light

    And wore pearls and stars above its head.

  35. Yes, it was an ancient royal place,

    But it became a house of vice, and a wretched one.

  36. A tyrannical prince bestowed it on the lowly

    At the cost of an honor he took and returned damaged.

  37. So acts an obeyed tyrant:

    He kills and wins praise; he plunders and is called generous.

  38. The building rose from money collected from the people;

    If its gilding were melted, it would run as blood.

  39. There, lights cast their glow into the darkness,

    Driving it back wherever they reached.

  40. They make the days of one whose nights they illuminate

    A long, unbroken day.

  41. They glorify him as though his time could pass

    All in light, like God's rule, with no part dark.

  42. When the wrongdoer fears meeting his conscience,

    He replaces night with lamps and takes shelter.

  43. With these lamps, the one who lights them calls for aid

    Against night's darkness, as though it were guilty.

  44. There is abundant food there, but

    It is reserved for whoever most diminishes the truth.

  45. And there is a crowd whose men you would take

    For adorned women, and whose women seem like dolls.

  46. They sway, intoxicated by excess of pleasure,

    And each sings in a lilting voice.

  47. O traveler who happens upon their house,

    Pause; do not envy a rich man held in disgrace.

  48. Should one be envied for giving up his honor

    Because he grew rich by doing so?

  49. Whoever seeks a livelihood by that path

    Deserves contempt and reproach.

  50. Be content with hardship while your honor remains intact,

    And, as God wills, endure hunger and poverty.

  51. Wait a little for God's punishment of them:

    You will find their festival turned to mourning.

  52. Eat and drink whatever pleases you and is lawful for you;

    Unseal the bottles of sweet, pure drink.

  53. Roam drunkenly, dance, and sing,

    And do not listen to the accusing voice of conscience.

  54. For it is only a moment, and then it passes;

    Enjoy it as much as you can while it lasts.

  55. Whoever has an opportunity, unaware

    Of what follows it, may seize pleasure as a prize.

  56. And to tempt God's servants, Asma, offer

    The gifts of your glances, though they are arrows.

  57. Your lovers are many, and the most devoted is punished;

    Whoever is faithful to a beauty is treated like a criminal.

  58. He loves you so deeply that you are the meaning of his life;

    Thus he is deemed the most deserving of mistreatment.

  59. And however fiercely longing grows in him, carry on

    With your mockery until it kills him in scorn.

  60. When he saw that hope was wasted

    And that its beacon had receded and gone dark,

  61. He went walking angrily in the garden,

    His grief almost kindling hell within him.

  62. He paced back and forth, afraid, then hopeful,

    And wept in sorrow, regret, and gloom.

  63. The sight of that garden stung his eyes,

    And he imagined its sweet water as bitter colocynth.

  64. What punishment for the branch when the root had sinned,

    Making the blow as painful and severe as it could be!

  65. He said sorrowfully, 'If only I were destitute,

    So poor that I owned neither cloak nor food.

  66. If only I spent my days exhausted

    And at night envied the healthy their sleep.

  67. If only I were a frail, bent old man,

    Mourning a beloved time long past.

  68. Then this life would have been a drink I could swallow;

    My patience would sweeten it, though it were bitter.'

  69. Will my status, learning, and intelligence help me?

    Have they protected anyone before me, that they should protect me?

  70. But I see every path has narrowed around me,

    And my death has become inevitable.

  71. Though some may call me a coward,

    I deem death the surest escape from humiliation.

  72. When boiling grows too fierce inside a vessel, what

    Blame falls on it if it weakens and breaks?

  73. And if the weight of a load crushes its bearer,

    Should he cast it off or obey those who reproach him?'

  74. When he had finished, he fired the gun, aiming

    At his heart, and fell in his blood.

  75. As though a building firmly rooted in its place

    Had been struck by a burning meteor and collapsed.

  76. As though the blood-soaked, motionless body had never been

    One that heard, saw, understood, and spoke.

  77. As though no learning or judgment had been there,

    No valued excellence from which others might benefit.

  78. As though there had been no love, no beloved's rejection,

    No despair erupting like a blazing volcano.

  79. So an innocent man dies while his grandfather

    Lives in guilty luxury on the people's money.

Sol 6