Sol 6.1

  1. O two poets who gave each other poetry to drink,

    and exchanged opinions and thoughts as gifts,

  2. and debated wine and disagreed

    over whether drinking it or leaving it was more fitting:

  3. This one commends it and has taken up its cause,

    enticing others, while that one offers his excuse.

  4. You two have left the readers with bewildered

    minds; they could muster no patience.

  5. And they asked, with doubt overcoming them:

    Shall we follow the prohibition or the command?

  6. Until, when their paths diverged,

    they sent me their letters in succession:

  7. What do you think? Judge, so you may guide us,

    for you are our expert, the one who knows best.

  8. Wine is a test by which temperaments are tried,

    revealing the sweet and the bitter in them.

  9. Through it, the noble man's manners grow

    gentler, while it disgraces the naive fool.

  10. It brings misery and happiness, and so resembles,

    in its sway, the sovereign and Time.

  11. Not everyone enamored of it is a hero

    who defies desire and overcomes drunkenness.

  12. This one sells his guidance for its sake,

    and that one freely spends his silver and gold;

  13. while this one guards against its perils

    the dignity of his station and his unsullied honor.

  14. O you who forbid it, you have betrayed it;

    one like you had never known betrayal.

  15. Have you forgotten our night, when she let fall—

    Hind, in al-Raml—the curtain to shut us out,

  16. while longing drew and drove us on,

    and our hearts were captives in its right hand,

  17. until we sought the nectar's aid against

    a night whose darkness terrified the dawn?

  18. Then a heady elation roused us and began

    to kindle embers throughout our limbs.

  19. And at that moment we thought nothing of

    meeting death and riding the rugged paths.

  20. We rose excitedly, with no sword by which to drive

    the talebearers from us and keep us safe from harm.

  21. Then the guards barred our way and grew furious

    when they saw us coming by night to her chamber.

  22. What happened? Did they frighten anyone

    of us into fleeing from them in terror?

  23. We shouted at them, and they scattered in panic,

    imagining us a vast army.

  24. We spent the night circling her palace, lovesick,

    describing our passion and lamenting estrangement,

  25. until she looked out, saying:

    Who is reciting poetry in the darkness?

  26. We are the two whose bondage you claimed

    with beauty's hand, so we suffered misery.

  27. We are the two whose tears you made

    flow down their cheeks like a river.

  28. Then, after coldness, she treated us gently

    when she saw us revealing our secret.

  29. And she walked toward us, swaying,

    taking the gazelle captive and shaming the full moon.

  30. And she welcomed us, smiling,

    offering a greeting we took for magic.

  31. We spent the night as chastity wished, and did not

    obey the wine and commit a sin.

  32. We reaped no fruit but her conversation,

    quenching and healing the burning heart.

  33. And between our hearts firm bonds were forged

    of love, whose covenant endures for life.

  34. And you remained entranced by her, passionately in love,

    and strung pearls in describing her.

  35. And through eloquence you won a glory that flourished,

    its renown a fragrance among humankind.

  36. Why have you repented of the daughter of the vines? Has she not

    bestowed on you the highest rank?

  37. But for her training of your mind, you would not

    have been named lord of poetry and Sirius.

  38. So polish the cups and return to drunkenness,

    so long as your bough is supple and fresh.

  39. I indeed drink it, even if they heap

    faults upon it and multiply their rebukes.

  40. And it pleases me that I have been accused of it;

    may I ever remain accused of it and enthralled.

Sol 6.1