Sol 6.1

  1. A greeting like a garden's fragrance after it smiles,

    upon your dwelling, the haunt of love long past.

  2. Upon a familiar place where separation's hand has left

    only an unscarred trace from your former days.

  3. May there rain upon it, where the dwellings spread wide,

    a cloud of fellowship whose pledge was never reproached.

  4. May it favor its haunts of pleasure and clothe

    its landmarks in the twin mantles of youth and melodies.

  5. May the Lord of the Throne greet the dweller in its precinct,

    even though he does not cherish a love-stricken lover's affection,

  6. with the greeting of a lover who, whenever al-Ghada is mentioned,

    casts blazing embers between his ribs.

  7. He yearns for those dwellings and their people,

    with the yearning of an enamored man longing far from home.

  8. He goes at evening amid tormenting cares, and at morning

    with a burning shred of liver and a heart torn apart.

  9. And the turtledove, far off in the thicket, reminds him

    of his youthful days, the prime of his earlier life,

  10. and a shimmering life, pleasing in beauty and freshness,

    beneath the shades of youth grown luxuriant in ease,

  11. and youth's shelter, once dewy with vigor,

    and a robe's brocade, its first bloom not yet embroidered.

  12. The returning day and night folded away its mantle, just as

    my reproachers folded away from me the love of the one I cherish.

  13. Many a friend whose nearness I once enjoyed

    for a time, while fate's eyelid was blind to our affection:

  14. the suns of wine revolved between us

    in a gathering of fellowship, amid drinking companions like stars,

  15. until calamities shot their arrows at us,

    and my dwelling and familiar haunt stood empty of his love.

  16. The nights folded his presence away from me and left

    in my heart the lingering effects of deep-rooted sickness.

  17. And am I anything but the keeper of a borrowed soul

    and a heart lent to burning grief and pain?

  18. Among the things that grieve me—and calamities are many—

    is the fickleness of time, given mastery over the noble,

  19. and the injustice of a brother who displays unfounded blame, then turns

    upon me with reproach, while correspondence is forbidden.

  20. O you who wrong me, yet whose favor we seek,

    be gentle with a lover struck by your departure.

  21. Listen to a friend's reproach, for perhaps

    a remonstrance may restore the friendship of one estranged.

  22. Here, I have unfolded my reproach; hear it as a gift,

    and I have strung it on a thread of ordered pearls.

  23. Before now, I was indeed steadfast against separation,

    unyielding, never stopping at a recognizable dwelling's trace.

  24. For I do not overpower judgment with passion,

    nor claim that longing, when astray, will grow wise.

  25. At evening I go clothed in the garments of chastity,

    and at morning with forbearance like Mount Yalamlam.

  26. If a friendship disowns me, or I disown it,

    I move on to another without regret.

  27. Love for you has exchanged my dignity for humiliation,

    and abiding bliss for the searing flame of longing.

  28. I say, when the carefree one sleeps and I cannot sleep,

    amid a blaze whose heat straightens my ribs:

  29. My two friends, what ails the friend whose affection has changed,

    while mine, through all this time, has never been severed?

  30. Have time's vicissitudes changed him, or has he turned

    to a slanderer's insinuations, or to embellished words?

  31. O culmination of hopes, O utmost wish,

    delight of the lover's soul, O generous one!

  32. God be with you concerning a lover whose plight is ravaged

    by distance that acts in his heart like a keen blade.

  33. He abides by the obligations of loyalty, and long

    has fed you the milk of affection, free of blame.

  34. His qualities have proved pure before you, deserving

    of fair praise from eloquent and inarticulate alike,

  35. like flowers on the hills opened by the east wind's hand,

    as it trails its hem over them in a smile.

  36. Cherish his sincere affection, even if unkind

    times come; do not heed a wrongdoer's words.

  37. I seek protection for you from one whose conduct was described

    by a man of letters preeminent in poetry:

  38. When a man's deeds turn evil, so do his suspicions,

    and he believes the delusions that beset him.

  39. He turns against those who love him at his enemies' word,

    and finds himself in doubt, dark as night.

  40. Remember—may God preserve you—our earlier friendship

    and the later pledge, never demolished by aversion.

  41. You have denied the loyalty of a friend who has gained

    precedence over every other devoted friend of yours.

  42. And I denied his love, radiant in freshness,

    and you met it with the point of a cleaving sword.

  43. Gently, O exalted one, O you through love for whom

    we shall gain tomorrow a reward from the Lord of Majesty.

  44. Do you deny one who remained loyal to you, though his dwelling is far away?

    May you regain your footing! Is this an honored man's conduct?

  45. Restore to him what once was, so that perhaps it

    may feather the bare shafts among my arrows and darts.

  46. But if there is no hope in the depths of your affection,

    and a crosswind assails it, hurtling with separation,

  47. I shall drive my pale camels away from your lands,

    heeding the saying of a noble man foremost in eminence:

  48. Of all lands, those most worthy of dwelling in

    are lands where a free man prospers whenever he settles.

  49. A soul has offered you pure counsel, for a companionship

    whose preservation is a duty upon every Muslim.

  50. When you take a companion, choose one refined,

    noble in character and devoted to the virtues.

  51. And deal with others amiably, as far as I have been able,

    and shun every blameworthy man—may my soul ransom you.

  52. Honor the rights of your true-hearted brothers;

    if you neglect fidelity, my friend, you will regret it.

  53. Ah, may the Most Merciful not protect one who fails to honor

    the rights of brotherhood from a cherished friend.

  54. Treat the days well, and know that they

    are mounts to a grave, darkened in dusty earth.

  55. Time is nothing but the dreams of a sleeper,

    and a man's glory in it is like a phantom offering greeting.

  56. Do not be deluded by the glory you attain

    through it; fear a day when it tramples you with a camel's hoof.

  57. Be mindful of the Lord of the Throne, and know that He

    sees what lies hidden in every concealed matter.

  58. Here is verse that has emerged from reflection,

    bearing reproach like a necklace of strung beads.

  59. Between the lines of longing it appears as though it were

    a young gazelle's dusky lip-color, showing through a smile.

  60. More delicate than tawny wine diluted one evening

    with cloud-water, its udders milked by Mirzam's hand.

  61. Remain in lasting bliss and joy,

    with a pleasant life on glory's heights; fare well.

  62. Your station is praised, your door a refuge,

    and your shade stretches wide, with good fortune belonging to it,

  63. through all time, while poetry is made to weep by the rhyming

    coo of bygone fidelity, uttered in melody.

Sol 6.1