Sol 5.6

  1. Help me against a fair beauty who shrinks from the cold,

    and walks with gentle ease, like one who walks in wrath.

  2. She wears outer wraps of Iraqi cloth,

    and striped cloaks of fine, loosely woven cloth from al-Janad.

  3. Whenever I say, “One day, grant me your favor,” she smiles

    and says, “By God’s life—if only he would show restraint!”

  4. I made my way to her after her husband had fallen asleep,

    and she had laid him on his pillow on a night of biting cold.

  5. With a corner of her eye she signaled, “Welcome—a warm welcome!

    You shall be granted what you desire, despite whoever may envy it.”

  6. Do you not see those around us, men of our enemy?

    Every proud-nosed young man of mine has grown defiant.”

  7. So I told her, “I am a man—know me for one:

    when I take up the sword, I heed no numbers.

  8. Ismāʿīl built for me a glory rooted deep,

    and before him, ʿAbd Kulāl and Abū Jamad.

  9. Wine circles among us in a glass flask,

    making the tribe’s coward seem more resolute than a lion.

Sol 5.6