Sol 6.1

  1. And a sweetly nasal-voiced beloved, one of its masters, by whom I am humbled;

    my heart he commended to his afflictions.

  2. With an intercessor on the day of parting, through whom arose

    his companions’ gratitude for chaste, ʿUdhri love.

  3. Through him I find consolation for all whom I have loved,

    and, apart from all others, I remain among his spoils.

  4. And what I encounter through him changes me in love,

    so I wish I were veiled from his epithets.

  5. Many a dwelling at al-Abraqayn he inhabited,

    where the lovesick lover never rendered its due recompense.

  6. I wonder: has the beloved the pride of one with power,

    so that, for glory’s sake, he demands that I kiss his dust?

  7. The two ruined dwellings rejoiced in him when he saw them,

    between the sandy tract of ʿĀlij and its broad reaches.

  8. And the line of cheek-down on his cheek betrayed him;

    she lent his glance wealth; then it betrayed him [wording unclear].

  9. And a heart whose love redoubled pined for him,

    and with a rebuff he tormented it, to reject its answer.

  10. If you hope for his love, then humor him,

    for the lion is not assailed in his thicket.

  11. My sight and hearing pursue him in love,

    in vain, as the blood of his seekers went unavenged.

  12. And in exchange for him, on the morning of his parting, my heart was bought

    by bitter patience amid the cup of his drink.

  13. And through him the ripe fruit of longing was plucked

    by a lovesick lover who visited his dwelling and his precincts.

  14. And among the wonders is a dwelling where I withdraw,

    and I melt with thirst, yet do not withdraw there.

Sol 6.1