Sol 6.1

  1. What a day it was that passed at al-Nayrab,

    without a talebearer spreading gossip at al-Nayrab!

  2. It renewed for pleasure what had faded,

    or nearly faded—of a dwelling and one who plays—

  3. and the lover's old days, when youth

    interceded for the offender with the beauties;

  4. the days I loved them, their ornaments red,

    their wraps green, their necks white as those of a gazelle herd.

  5. They smile, revealing the likeness of pearls, just as

    they unveil the likeness of a star's radiance.

  6. Each was a beauty whom youth had watered

    with the pure, sweetest water of youth.

  7. The days of closeness watered it, that familiar haunt,

    and a fertile home with a spacious courtyard:

  8. the field of my pleasures and the abode of love,

    the dwelling of my delight and the hills of my desire.

  9. A day as brief as a sandgrouse's thumb went by,

    and my way with what has passed remains my way.

  10. Sharing my wine that day was one who offered his dusky lips

    to quench thirst from his sweetest drinking place:

  11. a reckless one who honors no pledge, just as

    he never relents to anyone seeking amends.

  12. He has a cheek entirely graced with beauty by

    a wondrous mole—'Abd al-Nabi is of its kind.

  13. I would ransom him with uncle/mole, with uncle/mole, and the—

    uncle/mole and uncle/mole together, and my father.

  14. Time bestowed him as a favor—and how welcome

    a miser's favor that granted what was sought!

  15. In dark-green shade watered by a downpour,

    where dew took the place of pouring rain,

  16. the clouds' eye wept over it in streaming tears,

    enriching the earth, its rain-fringes hanging low,

  17. until its blossoms sprang forth fresh,

    smiling to reveal their cool, gleaming mouths.

  18. And the river glides between the hills,

    like a serpent gliding toward refuge.

  19. The wind cast upon it, from its own weaving,

    an ample coat of mail over its shoulder.

  20. You would think it, amid the hills, a coat of mail

    that had fallen in the meadow from a cavalry troop.

  21. As though the branches above it

    were a lookout come to a watchpost,

  22. their shadows resemble the shadows of sand dunes,

    spreading along the banks away from the watercourse.

  23. As though, when the wind bends them,

    they were thirsty, seeking a drink from a watering place.

  24. And the gray doves voice their sorrow among themselves

    with a warbling singer's plaintive, enchanting melody.

  25. And what happened happened, with wishes fulfilled;

    so think well of my beloved and me.

Sol 6.1