Sol 5.6

  1. Now tell Abu al-Fath,

    when you meet him in private:

  2. Indeed, I found fault with your bri—

    —de over something that was no fault at all.

  3. How long must the wom—

    —an endure as a virgin in the young man’s house?

  4. There came to me the po—

    —et’s wife, asking me for verse.

  5. So I welcomed her and treated her generously,

    and showed her a cheerful face.

  6. I did not part from her by so much as a handspan,

    until she swallowed a handspan.

  7. So never belittle my poetry:

    through it I won gratitude.

  8. I went before everyone, until they da—

    —red to cross the bridge.

Sol 5.6