Sol 5.6

  1. Why does your sorrow not increase,

    though night is a prolific mother?

  2. Could it be that with wi—

    —ne you kill as much as cold refusal breeds?

  3. If that is wrought by this, your li—

    —fe between the two is praiseworthy.

  4. And tresses hanging down the chee—

    —ks, of which the cheeks themselves complained:

  5. if you besiege them with your eyes,

    they have no path of escape from them.

  6. A glance, wherever it alights upon

    something tender, is harsh despite its tenderness.

  7. Do you not see white among the black,

    since black appeared amid the white?

  8. They reveal its splendor, though they—

    —seek to veil that very splendor.

  9. And a tavern's prostrate victim—you

    see him, his mouth as though the vein

  10. of a four-legged beast; upon him rose—

    —penalties, though he committed no crime.

  11. We visited him like men in pain,

    while he knew nothing of our intent.

  12. We drain him of his blood; and whe—

    —n he returns replenished, we return.

  13. How strange that his master sees—

    —us, his killers, yet exacts no vengeance!

  14. But it is blood-money that we pa—

    —y him, and Farid replaces what is lost—

  15. Farid, gentle in nature and open in both—

    —hands; no tight-fisted man can lead.

  16. When others defend their wealth,

    it is with wealth itself that he defends.

  17. And on every sleek horse, beneath a fi—

    —erce rider swaying high upon its saddle,

  18. he tosses his shoulders just as

    a bough sways after drinking deep.

  19. Drunk from the cup of batt—

    —le, yet ever craving more of it,

  20. he courts its rapture, and his dru—

    —nkenness bids the cupbearer pour again.

  21. He counts the murmuring of warri—

    —ors among songs, and calls to hear it again.

  22. Such are the virtues that now remain,

    and Abu al-Wahid alone is peerless in them.

  23. His promise never outruns his bounty,

    while his warning outruns his might.

  24. I stole away to you with my very sou—

    —l, with calamities beside me as witnesses.

  25. These are my rhymes: perhaps they a—

    —gree, though coins may differ.

  26. Poetry is that whose mea—

    —nings run long, though its song be brief.

  27. I gave them honest counsel concerning you when

    the delegations arrived in your courtyard.

  28. I said, “Stay; do not ask him—

    he will scarcely pause before he gives.”

Sol 5.6