1. A kinship joins my heart and his cheek:

    both blaze with hellfire.

  2. They are alike; the difference between them

    is that one is still and the other restless.

  3. Against my censor, I hold the claims of love;

    for some of them, I owe him thanks.

  4. He blamed me; but when he saw him, he fell madly in love,

    and so I was the cause of his passion.

  5. And many a speaker—while love sways us,

    and joy and rapture take possession of us—declares:

  6. “Wine has been made lawful to us from his glances;

    henceforth let wine and grapes be forbidden.”

  7. Take, my two boon companions, my solace for yourselves,

    the gift of one who never reproaches when he gives;

  8. and leave me with a wine brought forth,

    nothing but the mouth, with bubbles upon it.

  9. I am a man of a noble company;

    in love, I go wherever they have gone.

  10. They were given drink, yet did not grow drunk—and how many a company

    its fragrance has intoxicated, though they never drank!

  11. They were graciously invited to ʿAlwa’s door,

    while her face lay veiled in beauty.

  12. So they offered a prostration, rank upon rank,

    to a Forgiver whose name reverence glorified.

  13. The eye discerned a trace of them,

    for in her abiding presence they were stripped of self.

  14. Then one ascending could not distinguish one descending,

    nor did one departing meet one returning.

Sol 6.1