Sol 6.1

  1. حَسَّنَتْ غَيَّهُ لَهُ وفَسَادَهْ

    واسْتَباحَتْ صَلاَحَهُ ورَشَادَهْ

    She made his waywardness and corruption seem fair to him,

    and laid waste to his virtue and right guidance.

  2. وأتَاحَتْ لهُ الشَّقَاوةَ خُودٌ

    سُمِّيَتْ وهي كاسمِهَا بِسَعَادَهْ

    And a young beauty brought him misery,

    named Saʿādah—“Happiness”—and true to her name;

  3. ذَاتُ وَجْهٍ أَهْدَى سَنَاهُ إلى البَدْ

    رِ وفَرْعٍ أعْدَى الظَّلامَ سَوَادَهْ

    with a face that bestowed its radiance on the full

    moon, and hair that infected darkness with its blackness.

  4. فَهْوَ ليلٌ أَطَلَّ فَوقَ نَهَارٍ

    وَعَلاَ فرع بَانَةٍ مَيَّادَهْ

    So it is night looming over day,

    and rising above a swaying bān-tree’s bough.

  5. وثَنَايَا كأنَّها في انتِظَامٍ

    ما عَلَى صَفْحِ جيدِها من قِلادَهْ

    And front teeth whose ordered row resembles

    the necklace resting against her neck.

  6. لَمْ تُناغِ العِشرينَ عُمْراً ولَمْ تُر

    ضعْ جَنيناً وما دَرَتْ ما الوِلاَدَهْ

    She has not yet neared twenty years of age, nor has she

    suckled an infant, nor known what childbirth is.

  7. قُلْ لَها يا كِتَابُ عَنِّي ولا تَخْ

    شَ انتهَاراً تُريكَهُ وازْدرادَهْ

    Tell her, O letter, on my behalf, and do not

    fear a rebuke she may give you, or being swallowed:

  8. أَتُرَى قَتْلَهُ يَحِلُّ بِلا ذَنْ

    بٍ ويُنْسَى إقْرَاره بالشَّهادَهْ

    “Can he lawfully be killed, though guilty of no

    sin, and his profession of faith be forgotten,

  9. ويُعَانِي ما قد عَلِمتَ من الوَجْ

    دِ ويَقضِي ولا يَنَالُ مُرَادَهْ

    while he suffers what you already know of love’s

    anguish, and dies without attaining his desire?”