A messenger came to me from Lamma, after

I had thought, my whole life long, we should never speak together again.

She says: is there not, from the covenant of old, one glimpse

in which you might see us before death and ruin?

And she said — while I bore of love for her the like of what she bore —

"Joy be to you for what we tasted after your absence."

And I went like a child who meets his mother, weeping,

while to Lamma it seemed I only feigned my tears.

Then my tears startled her, like a rose at her breast,

crushed in the embrace till it pricked with its thorn.

And she said: may a thousand Lammas be ransom for your eyes —

let the eyes of all the world weep, but never yours.

Would one like you weep? I said: if only weeping brought happiness.

Then she said: my beloved, command — may I be made your ransom.

Is it my eyes you desire, or my cheeks, or my mouth?

And I said to her: this, and that, and the other.

And I fettered her in my two arms, and she surrendered,

a captive of passion, unable to stir.

I passed him the cup, while night drew its train behind it —

a tawny wine like musk fresh-opened, fragrant;

and I clasped him as the warrior clasps his sword,

his two long locks like sword-belts on my shoulder;

until, when drowsiness bent him low,

I moved him a little away — and he was embracing me —

I drew him back from ribs that long for him,

so that he should not sleep upon a throbbing pillow.

A lover who bade you farewell has bidden farewell to patience;

what he entrusted to you of his secret is now noised abroad.

He gnashes his teeth in regret that he did not

add more steps to those he took when he saw you off.

O brother of the full moon in splendor and in radiance,

God keep the hour that brought you forth!

If my night grows long after you — ah, how often

I lay complaining of the night's shortness with you.

Wallada

And among her sayings:

I, by God, am fit for the heights,

and I walk my own walk, and glory in my pride.

I let my lover reach my lips to kiss them,

and I grant my kiss to whoever craves it!