Sol 6.1

  1. Do you desire life, when Hind's glance

    has drawn against us such an Indian blade?

  2. We exposed ourselves to her eye until

    we suckled together at cups of love and longing.

  3. Then bring my cup in her name; how can you

    let the cup pass by while someone is still thirsty?

  4. And keep her cups coming until you see me

    while my eye does not see you, though you are with me.

  5. Wine, whose bubbles are none other than itself—

    for it, from it, upon it: what a necklace!

  6. I hand it to my drinking companion, for he is like me;

    I was true to his covenant, and he was true to mine.

  7. He keeps the secret; I find him none other than myself.

    When he is with me, I am alone.

  8. We parted; separation turned my sweetness bitter,

    and through parting clouded the purity of my love.

  9. So I have seen none as reckless as my eye:

    I wrung tears from it, and my draught came forth.

  10. Nor anything like my heart, where a fire is struck,

    calling its masters to mind without a fire-stick.

  11. Is there no comforter, O Sa'd, to whom I may lament

    my lovesick yearnings and my overwhelming passion?

  12. I have drunk the wine of bounty since long ago,

    clear-strained, with no lees.

  13. So even its slightest portion overwhelmed my fingertips,

    though I devoted to it more than my strength allowed.

  14. May I be your ransom, you who gather excellence, in whom

    my praise and thanks forever sound their call.

  15. And to many a longing lover I mentioned Layla's name;

    so he was crazed with love for her—mention of love is contagious.

  16. I owe him, and hold for him, what is hoped for,

    and glad tidings from Ali are his, and in my keeping.

  17. For I am before whoever came before me

    there, and after whoever came after me.

  18. And in what is said, mine is a free man's speech;

    and in what is not said, a slave's stillness.

Sol 6.1