Sol 5.6

  1. I saw the Book of the Afflictions of the Tongue—

    from al-Iḥyāʾ—with its tongue cut out.

  2. I said, “What happened to you, that you cut it off,

    though you are a brother to eloquence and lucid speech?”

  3. Then the tongue of its condition called out to me:

    “It was from this tongue that evil befell me.

  4. It has no cure except to cut it off

    or banish it far from humankind and jinn.

  5. Even if you say, ‘I shall keep silent while mingling,’

    that cannot be achieved by wishes alone.

  6. Was it anything but its harvests that cast

    these creatures into Fire and the dark stain of sin?

  7. How many a word has a person paid no heed to,

    only for it to hurl him into humiliation

  8. in this world and the Hereafter alike.

    Is there, then, a discerning listener possessed of a heart,

  9. who seeks his salvation before destruction

    and irretrievable loss befall him;

  10. who bestirs himself to guard against his desires

    and does not tread the path of the indolent?”

Sol 5.6