Sol 6.1

  1. O delicate one, whose glances hold a keen blade,

    and slender of form, whose arrow is swift to strike:

  2. who lodged roses in your cheeks, and who

    traced the embroidered bands of your cheek-down, or perfumed it?

  3. And why has this tousled temple-lock

    crossed the paths of kissing and offered itself as a target?

  4. The dust-cloud's horizon brought forth a moon for me,

    among stars that rove or march.

  5. Beauty's water drips from him, and he

    quivers when his full rump quivers.

  6. One extravagant in beauty is not blamed when

    he wrongs his lovers or goes to excess.

  7. He bent his hook and sharpened it;

    I said, 'Your curling temple-lock is enough for you.

  8. Your glances suffice in place of your arrow, and

    your slender form in place of your keen-edged sword.'

  9. My palm inclined toward the sides of his neck,

    though death precedes even a touch of them.

  10. He passed like passing clouds, trailing the loose

    folds of his sleeve in pride, and the hem of his bordered cloak.

  11. He said, while the rose had turned safflower-red on

    his cheeks with anger, and its time for plucking had come:

  12. 'One like you lays a hand on me! Does he not

    fear that my gaze will destroy him?

  13. Were a lion to pass me, it would die of fear; and if

    you saw my phantom in sleep, your eye would not blink.

  14. I am molten torment, and the lion,

    black in ferocity, the baseborn, the loathsome.

  15. More daring than I is any youth who, when

    my eye falls upon him, does not perish that instant.

  16. When we drink the daughter of the vines, with

    white blades we are greeted, and with spears we are gifted.

  17. Were it not for my caution, or my regard for the fact

    that I am mighty and you deemed weak,

  18. I would slaughter until the sky fell

    above me and the earth sank beneath us.'

  19. I said, 'Easy! You are not the first who

    erred through ignorance before coming to know.

  20. The full moon has no darkness inscribed upon

    its two silken cheeks, and the sea cannot be drained.

  21. I have resolved to lay a claim against you, so do not

    listen to anyone who reproaches or scolds.

  22. Nor make me resort to an oath; for if

    I wished, I would swallow the Psalms and the Qur'an.'

  23. He smiled, revealing pearls, and unveiled

    roses; I kissed him, and he did not disdain it.

  24. He said, 'What do you desire?' I told him,

    'Let us shatter our enviers by carousing.'

  25. He led me away, with darkness as his cloak,

    and his dawn, in his right hand, a sharpened blade,

  26. toward gardens where rain woos what

    it has embroidered of their blossoms, and what it has striped,

  27. among pleasure-loving youths who knew

    life and attained its most delicate bliss.

  28. This one greets, another grows jealous, and another

    kisses by force, while that one seeks affection.

  29. The earth's mantle was our mantle, and the

    full moon had buttoned its close-woven cloak over us.

  30. Between us were two wines, from the saliva of the

    vine and from saliva sweeter than wine.

  31. And God graced me with a scroll,

    whose like is a gracious favor to one like me.

  32. I recited to him an explicit poem—and how he

    kissed those lines and letters!

  33. He died of drunkenness, and I died of joy,

    and the veil of passion was nearly lifted.

Sol 6.1