Parting
If parting be decreed for the two of us,
Stand yet a little while I gaze upon thy face. . . .
By the life of love, remember the days of thy longing,
As I remember the nights of thy delight.
As thine image passeth into my dreams,
So let me pass, I entreat thee, into thy dreams,
Between me and thee roar the waves of a sea of tears
And I cannot pass over unto thee.
But O, if thy steps should draw nigh to cross —
Then would its waters be divided at the touch of thy foot.
Would that after my death unto mine ears should come
The sound of the golden bells upon thy skirts!
Or shouldst thou be asking how fareth thy beloved, I from the depths of the tomb
Would ask of thy love and thy welfare.
Verily, to the shedding of mine heart's blood
There be two witnesses, thy cheeks and thy lips.
How sayest thou it is not true, since these be my witnesses
For my blood, and that thine hands have shed it?
Why desirest thou my death, whilst I but desire
To add years unto the years of thy life?
Though thou dost rob my slumber in the night of my longing,
Would I not give the sleep of mine eyes unto thy eyelids?
Yea, between the bitter and the sweet standeth my heart —
The gall of parting, and the honey of thy kisses.
After thy words have beaten out my heart into thin plates,
Thine hands have cut it into shreds.
It is the likeness of rubies over pearls
What time I behold thy lips over thy teeth.
The sun is on thy face and thou spreadest out the night
Over his radiance with the clouds of thy locks.
Fine silk and broidered work are the covering of thy body,
But grace and beauty are the covering of thine eyes
The adornment of maidens is the work of human hands,
But thou — majesty and sweetness are thine adornment. . .
In the field of the daughters of delight, the sheaves of love
Make obeisance unto thy sheaf. . . .
I cannot hear thy voice, but I hear
Upon the secret places of my heart, the sound of thy steps.
On the day when thou wilt revive
The victims whom love for thee hath slain — on the day when thy dead shall live anew,
Then turn again to my soul to restore it to my body; for on the day
Of thy departure, when thou wentest forth, it went out after thee.
Stand yet a little while I gaze upon thy face. . . .
By the life of love, remember the days of thy longing,
As I remember the nights of thy delight.
As thine image passeth into my dreams,
So let me pass, I entreat thee, into thy dreams,
Between me and thee roar the waves of a sea of tears
And I cannot pass over unto thee.
But O, if thy steps should draw nigh to cross —
Then would its waters be divided at the touch of thy foot.
Would that after my death unto mine ears should come
The sound of the golden bells upon thy skirts!
Or shouldst thou be asking how fareth thy beloved, I from the depths of the tomb
Would ask of thy love and thy welfare.
Verily, to the shedding of mine heart's blood
There be two witnesses, thy cheeks and thy lips.
How sayest thou it is not true, since these be my witnesses
For my blood, and that thine hands have shed it?
Why desirest thou my death, whilst I but desire
To add years unto the years of thy life?
Though thou dost rob my slumber in the night of my longing,
Would I not give the sleep of mine eyes unto thy eyelids?
Yea, between the bitter and the sweet standeth my heart —
The gall of parting, and the honey of thy kisses.
After thy words have beaten out my heart into thin plates,
Thine hands have cut it into shreds.
It is the likeness of rubies over pearls
What time I behold thy lips over thy teeth.
The sun is on thy face and thou spreadest out the night
Over his radiance with the clouds of thy locks.
Fine silk and broidered work are the covering of thy body,
But grace and beauty are the covering of thine eyes
The adornment of maidens is the work of human hands,
But thou — majesty and sweetness are thine adornment. . .
In the field of the daughters of delight, the sheaves of love
Make obeisance unto thy sheaf. . . .
I cannot hear thy voice, but I hear
Upon the secret places of my heart, the sound of thy steps.
On the day when thou wilt revive
The victims whom love for thee hath slain — on the day when thy dead shall live anew,
Then turn again to my soul to restore it to my body; for on the day
Of thy departure, when thou wentest forth, it went out after thee.
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