Sol 5.6

  1. And a companion of gracious

    presence, trustworthy when absent;

  2. a dead thing that tells the living

    of mysteries hidden from sight;

  3. a fool, no sage,

    yet standing in the wise man’s stead;

  4. an ignorant thing, no man of letters,

    yet a help to the man of letters;

  5. mute, no orator,

    yet possessed of an orator’s speech;

  6. tongue-tied, yet stringing verse

    like the beloved’s approach;

  7. silent, yet relating a tale

    like the watcher’s turning away;

  8. the hand embellished it until

    it became like fresh brocade,

  9. fashioned of black and white,

    like youth and hoary age.

  10. Within it is delight for the

    eyes, and companionship for hearts.

  11. Within them something crept,

    the vilest of creeping things:

  12. small in body,

    but great in sin.

  13. They took a portion from it,

    and thereby my portion was mangled.

  14. It gladdened the heart of a fool

    and seared the heart of a sage.

  15. Alas for those meanings—

    the marvelous and the rare—

  16. and those modes of speech,

    ranging from easy to difficult,

  17. from novel and eloquent

    to sound and unerring!

  18. It replaced the clear expression drawn from

    them with a wondrous corruption.

  19. Then the stars of knowledge and

    understanding tumbled toward their setting.

  20. Everything shall perish,

    sooner or later.

Sol 5.6