Sol 5.6

  1. O eye, weep for Mas‘ud ibn Shaddad—

    with the weeping of one whose tears stream, whose grief lies plain—

  2. for one who never had hump-fat melted for his own sake, nor

    shunned his dependents when provisions grew scarce;

  3. nor, whenever he made camp, would he settle apart,

    fearing calamity among those at the water or those in the open desert.

  4. A forceful speaker of decisive judgments, an undoer of settled designs;

    an opener of mysteries, one who holds arriving hosts in check;

  5. one who camps amid lush pasture, a dispeller of dreadful crises;

    a bearer of crushing burdens, a climber of highlands;

  6. a slayer of every tyrant, a vigilant watcher at the lookout;

    a warder-off of overwhelming defeat, a breaker of fetters;

  7. a bearer of banners, a strengthener of the means of deliverance;

    a mender of breaches, an opener of barriers;

  8. a man who possessed every virtue of goodness—as both well knew—

    an honor to his companion and a scourge to the unjust aggressor.

  9. Abu Zurara, may you never be lost! Every true man

    will one day lie hostage to grave-slabs and timbers.

  10. Why did you not give your captive drink, O Banu Jarm—

    my life be your ransom? He was anguished and parched with thirst!

  11. What a splendid man! By God, both knew it:

    the clan that dwelt with him and the morning traveler who journeyed with him.

  12. He is the true man whose neighbors praise his presence

    in winter, when they had nearly extinguished their fires;

  13. the spearman whose broad, gaping thrust is followed

    by a copious gush of blood once it boils up foaming;

  14. the first to bring the wineskin to his companions when they alighted

    at his house, and the succor of the needy petitioner.

  15. By God, cousin, I shall never forget what a man you were

    until Ibn Mayyad comes forth from the grave.

  16. They and I shall remain at feud until, in requital for him, we strike

    one of theirs—a trusted champion clad in mourning garb.

  17. O you who see the lightning flash that I spent the night watching,

    traveling by night over the black lava-field and then the valley—

  18. a lowland lightning-flash that glittered; I sat watching it

    one evening, while my companions were at Anfad.

  19. We passed the night while the lowland winds drove it onward,

    until its successive masses settled firmly over the highlands.

  20. A copious, streaming rainstorm cast down its anchors,

    close overhead, pouring torrents laden with thunder.

  21. May I water with it the grave of the one I mean—how dear he is—

    the grave to which he has gone, with no ransomer yet to redeem him.

  22. Ah, my soul’s grief for this man, always and forever—

    for Ibn Asiyya, slain in the valley.

Sol 5.6