Sol 5.6

  1. My eye beheld, upon my journey,

    an old man who left my thoughts bewildered.

  2. He walks the earth upon his legs,

    in sunlight and in the dimness before dawn.

  3. A camel? He is no camel—no, no;

    in you? He is no wild elephant.

  4. Yet it is said that he was born of

    a female, in the first place, and a male.

  5. Riddle-me, riddle-me—what might that be?

    And I said: one of humankind.

  6. For his cheek, there by his temple,

    had gone mad and been chained with hair.

  7. He has a bow fashioned from his eyebrow,

    shooting souls without a string.

  8. In his glance and in his graceful stride

    lies death for fair and dark beauties alike.

  9. A bough—and kisses are its blossoms;

    union, dear brother, is its fruit.

  10. His graces crossed into my heart,

    and through them it fell into danger.

  11. How often, while he was heedless, my eye

    stole from him all the delight of looking.

  12. I dupe him whenever he notices me,

    while I remain wary of that.

  13. And I tell him, “Riddle-me, riddle-me:

    cream comes from cows’ milk.”

Sol 5.6