Sol 6.1

  1. With the form of a doe and a peahen,

    And the gaze of a drowsy wild-ox calf of the dunes,

  2. And the curves of a nasal-voiced fawn, at whose beauty—

    So bewitching—the eyes of fair women gaze,

  3. She turned toward me; in the folds of her wraps

    Were deliberate slowness and a drunkard’s lightness.

  4. Slender-waisted, her graceful figure had no

    Peer in slenderness among the sand dune’s boughs.

  5. So I began to clasp the bān-tree of her form,

    And savored from her mouth tawny wine of ʿĀna.

  6. She draws near, and a hopeful lover longs for union with her,

    Foolishly, though she occupies an exalted place,

  7. Like the sun in the heart of the sky, whose light

    Above the earth lies close to gazing eyes.

  8. I strung a peerless pearl in praise of a peerless one; thus met

    Two auspicious stars, joined in a beautiful conjunction.

  9. May God spread his shade over creation,

    And sustain him with wondrous gifts of grace.

  10. And may fate’s decrees flow for him, obedient to his will,

    In the reign of the sultan who holds dominion.

  11. I mean Murad of God, revealer of His bounty—

    Most sublime—and source of His glorious action.

  12. May the Lord of the Throne preserve him as champion of His faith,

    So long as fingers’ written marks offer praise.

Sol 6.1