Sol 6.1

  1. Friend, listen to a tale that reveals lessons to you;

    it became the talk of lovers and nighttime companions.

  2. A young man of the Turks, in the valley of Damascus, saw

    among the gardens a maiden who put the moon to shame.

  3. He loved her and she loved him; before long,

    love kindled sparks in both their hearts.

  4. They arranged to meet upon a bend,

    concealed from all people by the trees.

  5. In the quarter was a tale-bearer among their enemies,

    coarse and harsh, loving evil and harm.

  6. The wretch learned the secret of their appointed meeting;

    would that he had been granted right guidance when he learned it!

  7. So he spent the night at the appointed meeting-place, watching

    for their meeting, seething with grudges as he waited.

  8. Until, when darkness reigned, there appeared to him

    a shadow walking slowly, approaching warily.

  9. He shouted, 'Who is that night-walker?' and terrified her

    because of the aggression he displayed and what came to light.

  10. She turned away toward her lover's house, searching

    for him, but learned no news of his situation.

  11. But when she saw the key to his sleeping chamber

    in its door, she entered it, guarding against danger.

  12. After that, she saw the traitor approaching

    her beloved's house, rushing down like a torrent.

  13. Finding her beloved's return too long delayed, she armored herself

    in his armor and drew his keen sword of hard steel.

  14. She fought that aggressor, and before long

    she felled him dead, his desire unfulfilled.

  15. And with the blood spilled from him, she quenched the blaze of the

    hatred that had burned within his sides.

  16. She left his corpse in the wild expanses of the open country,

    so wild beasts sank fang and claw into it.

  17. Her beloved had been alone in the house,

    full of passion, tormented by longing and thoughts.

  18. He rose, distraught, to discover what was happening,

    as though he had sensed the aggressor's assault.

  19. He missed the path along which the maiden had gone,

    so he could not delight his eyes with the sight of her face.

  20. Then he turned back and saw something gleaming before him,

    flashing like lightning in the wilderness before dawn.

  21. What he saw was Sawsan's necklace, which,

    during her slaying of the aggressor, had scattered.

  22. He was bewildered when he saw it upon a mound,

    stained with the slain man's blood as it flowed.

  23. He said, 'O necklace, where did her killer flee?

    But how did you leave that neck and bosom?'

  24. He wandered, his thoughts in turmoil, searching for

    that enemy, yet finding no trace of him.

  25. At last he arrived and saw a shadowy figure nearby;

    when he saw it coming toward him, he recoiled.

  26. He grew suspicious of this shadow, thinking it the

    wretch who had shed the fair maiden's blood.

  27. He said, 'Who are you?' and rushed at her with his sword's edge;

    would that she had answered him before he rushed upon her!

  28. She fell, slain by her lover's sword, crying out

    amid the wilderness, with a cry that split stone:

  29. 'You killed me unwittingly; accept my forgiveness,

    so do not resist God's decree and destiny.'

  30. He cried, 'Alas! Are you my beloved?

    There is no life for me!' And with his keen sword he killed himself.

  31. Morning came; the people rose and spread out,

    and their story spread through the quarter and became well known.

  32. A grave concealed them both; on its face they inscribed

    a verse of poetry that makes jinn and humankind weep:

  33. 'The resting place of two lovers whom no

    palace would embrace; a grave embraced them, and in it they were buried.'

Sol 6.1