Sol 6.1

  1. O breeze of the wind, wafting before dawn,

    And tongue of lightning, urging on the rain:

  2. Together they roused the hills' slumber from its sleep,

    Then it turned, shaking off the trailing skirts of drowsiness.

  3. And they restored its spirit when they poured

    The clouds' rosewater into the earth's musk.

  4. They placed in it a fragrant breath it jealously guarded,

    And spread from it what it had kept concealed.

  5. Convey from me to a brother I left behind

    In Tlemcen a fragrant greeting.

  6. And tell him that, since I parted from him,

    I have found no patience in separation from him.

  7. How can I forget him, when among his legacies

    Are charms that fill my soul with their imprint:

  8. Fresh refinement and graceful handwriting,

    And chastity and generosity that have dazzled.

  9. How many an hour of companionship was ours,

    That we savored in late afternoon or early morning;

  10. And gardens whose veils we tore aside,

    Then gazed upon a river or flowers.

  11. They were endowed with every beautiful thing,

    So they granted every heart its desire.

  12. Amid roses, enamored of their cheeks,

    A narcissus steals glances from them.

  13. And it gave off fragrance; its saliva was sipped

    By the garden's shoots, which swayed drunkenly.

  14. And blossoms, from whose dew you see

    Beads, hung upon them like pearls.

  15. The rainclouds strung them on their branches,

    And the breeze of youth swept through, and they scattered.

  16. Oh, what a sight! I was deprived

    Of the sight itself by parting, yet left with its imprint.

  17. A turtledove reminded me of its delight;

    She recalled longing and lamented before dawn.

  18. She resembled a drowsing beauty

    Who had sung a song and set a string trembling.

  19. Oh, that life! If only it

    Had not been so brief in its span!

  20. Its meaning was erased in its prime

    By a parting that crept upon it under cover.

  21. And so are the days: there is no security in them,

    Clear at one time, murky at another.

  22. They are like wine, displaying bubbles

    At the top of the jar, yet concealing sparks.

  23. O distant one, yet my mind

    Courts danger in patiently enduring his absence.

  24. You hold the loftiest place of all people in my regard,

    Whether the reproacher admits this or denies it.

  25. And he for whom the dawn has risen

    Does not seek the moon thereafter.

  26. If only I knew how to forget, now that

    Familiar closeness has become strange.

  27. Accursed be separation—how devastating it is!

    How many a lover it has bereaved of a beloved!

  28. Its downcast gaze deceived me before that,

    While it had concealed reversals of fortune within it.

  29. And it saw images of companionship with me,

    Then set about erasing those images.

  30. A preacher through circumstance—how sincere its counsel!

    So contemplate it: you will behold lessons.

  31. It is always a gathering for parting:

    It brings groups close, only to send groups far away.

  32. And indeed it said, when I reproached it:

    Ask; all that has been decreed will run its course.

  33. Submit the matter to the One who decreed it;

    All that has been decreed will run its course.

  34. No—by Him whose power prevails,

    My heart cannot be patient after your departure.

Sol 6.1