Sol 5.6

  1. Yāfiʿ lies effaced, emptied of its people—and Ṭalūb as well.

    Desolate too—if only the heart would return to itself.

  2. I stood there after its people had settled

    at Nisibin; and one who would charm away tears is a healer.

  3. The telltale gray has appeared, and now there show

    upon you today scars dealt by the vicissitudes of time.

  4. I have made peace with the mounts’ evening marches; glad of it are

    the hooves and backs that complain of them.

  5. What ails the heart? What made it remember a mother of children—

    Arīka—one of whose dwellings is Harūb?

  6. Chaste and high-spirited, a freeborn woman; barring the way to her is

    her husband, bristling with weapons and quick to wrath.

  7. Aloof—approaching her is like my drawing near the two Farqad stars;

    for the folly of men prone to scandal, approaching her brings reproach.

  8. Is it truly so, servants of God, that I cannot look

    upon her face without a watcher over me?

  9. My foes kept me from her shortly after mutual favor,

    yet what I hope for from her remains close at hand.

  10. Juml has treated me well—if only her attendant,

    whenever she wanted us to return, would return.

  11. You turn away until despair carries off every hope,

    until the soul nearly grows content to relinquish you.

  12. Yet you are every hope, if only you would receive us afresh

    with kindness—but the bounty sought from you is barren.

  13. Those few are my wealth, and Ibn Marwān is witness;

    yet he did not rule in my favor, though Ibn al-Ḥusām was near.

  14. A youth of pure mettle, reaching every bound of beneficence, storming

    the mountains of glory, open-handed and lavish in gifts.

Sol 5.6