Sol 6

  1. O you whose tears are kept hidden across the horizons,

    giving the gathering of your loved ones over to separation,

  2. ask no one but me to tell you of ti—

    me, for I have met what you have not met.

  3. I drank the cup of forgetfulness before you in lo—

    ve, and exhausted my sighs and longing.

  4. I have grappled with misfortunes and exact—

    ed from them the purposes of character.

  5. One who parts willingly from loved on—

    es cannot know when reunion will come.

  6. I wish I knew what the remain—

    ing nights hold for me with her.

  7. What differs between appointed lifespans and provisions

    has left the discerning thinker in doubt.

  8. Every gift of yours, O ti—

    me, I disown, except a night in the land of Iraq.

  9. There, an embrace joined my soul and body,

    as though we had wasted away in separation.

  10. I reached her with the veil lifted, while another

    could not reach her through charms or stealth.

  11. And when you possess my bondage through the nob—

    lest character, you need fear no flight from me.

  12. Your love, O highest object of pur—

    suit, has stayed with me until I was counted among lovers.

  13. Yet I held back the first rush of te—

    ars, though tears bring comfort to the longing heart.

  14. Abd al-Aziz has outstripped the foremost in spee—

    ch; how could description catch up with him?

  15. His radiant words rose in hearts

    as stars rise on the horizons.

  16. His pens challenged the mouths of the peo—

    ple and made towering spears unnecessary.

  17. He found his settled judgment keener

    than a sword’s edge, and a shield gives protection.

  18. The night journey and the leading of hor—

    ses racing toward lean she-camels sufficed him

  19. for heights that cannot be reached by the poin—

    ts of tall lances and slender, sharpened blades.

  20. By his judgment he polishes away the rust of dou—

    bt and offers keys to what is locked.

  21. He guards what eyes should not see through pro—

    longed restraint of his gaze and deep downcast eyes.

  22. In enmity you see him only

    fierce in stratagem, gripping his foe by the throat.

  23. Its spittle is like the venom of a black snake that infects;

    every healer avoids the one it has bitten.

  24. The force of great affairs has not made him neglect

    attention to small, slight matters.

  25. In both conditions he is like the sphere that stands

    between darkness and the dawn.

  26. The eye roams freely when the playful gaze roams over him,

    though he is hard to ascend.

  27. He is unlike a bewildered man whose desire wanders

    between his innards and his collarbones,

  28. an ineffectual man whose resolve is lost between two anxie—

    ties, and the prize of captivity and release.

  29. And a restless one whose mount ran ahead, so he reached

    for the prize rods before the race.

  30. In his action he was like one swallowing a piece of fa—

    t without waiting to learn its taste.

  31. When she rejected the bit of the bridle and persisted

    in a course of rebellion and rearing,

  32. you caught up with her, though being outstripp—

    ed had been torn apart by the gallop of fine, noble horses.

  33. They shot out like arrows, driven by ho—

    oves as bows drive arrow notches.

  34. And if their necks shared their leng—

    th with their bodies, they would run upon their veins.

  35. After a turn from her anxious, wary breas—

    t, and a steadying of her fluttering heart,

  36. you were too generous to share in the stri—

    ke, or in the prize of captivity and release.

  37. Wars have learned your stratagem, so they do not li—

    ft an angry man’s trailing robe from his leg.

  38. At times you deceive them with hidden snares,

    and at times by drawing the bow fully.

  39. Fear of you has left swords no share

    in the crowns of heads or spilled blood.

  40. You have rendered their blades unnecessary and turn—

    ed the courses of neck rings against them.

  41. By your awe you settled a blood feud

    that lay between swords and necks.

Sol 6