Sol 6.1

  1. How lovely Sa'id's monastery was when you lodged there,

    with earth and garden clothed in embroidery and brocade!

  2. For you see no branch but its blossom

    displays it in a robe and mantle of its own.

  3. And the doves have melodies that remind us

    of our loved ones, amid ramal and hazaj rhythms.

  4. And the breeze flutters over the pools;

    it visits them, and they greet it with waves.

  5. And wine is unveiled before its suitors, so you see

    brides of the vine already led in procession to their husbands.

  6. And all of us, with garlands of daisies upon

    our heads, are like Anushirwan in his crown.

  7. And we are in the sphere of revelry that surrounds us,

    as though we were in a sky with constellations.

  8. Nor do I forget my drinking within its sanctuary

    until morning with a gazelle whose gaze was languid,

  9. swaying the two flanks of a bān-tree branch as I embraced

    him, and kissing the two eyes of an ivory doll;

  10. nor my words and my turning back as I departed,

    while longing shook my heart—how fiercely!

  11. "O monastery, would that my home were in your courtyard, or

    oh, would that you were in Darraj Lane!"

Sol 6.1