Sol 5.6

  1. The vanguards of gray hair advance—the swiftest of them at a gentle pace.

    They mean for my youth to be called a mature man.

  2. Stars they are; the night beneath them has vanished.

    They come successively, scattered, until one setting gathers them.

  3. If the days preserve me, the staff will keep beside me;

    and if they destroy me, every living creature is their prey.

  4. Never have the days reproached me for failing to praise

    an age whose nights passed away long ago.

  5. O neighbor of ours, there is no comfort in parting from you;

    but a decree has gone forth, and by it you are forbidden to me.

  6. So leave me: you have departed without deserving blame;

    fate summoned us to severance, not treachery.

  7. Indeed, time’s sudden ravaging is a familiar habit between us;

    it has carried off a beloved companion around whom our fellowship dwelt united.

  8. I feel no lonely longing for some novel pleasure in life,

    though I possess neither wealth nor family.

  9. What you dread has befallen us, not you;

    forbearance came afterward, but folly had already gone before.

  10. There is no longing now: despair has brought forgetfulness in its wake;

    the departure of one who never returns and bereavement are alike.

  11. Peace be upon you—not the greeting of one who bears hatred.

    After you, that life became sweet which once could never sweeten.

  12. Ah, many a day of genuine delight I enjoyed

    with her, while chastity and generosity were my boon companions—

  13. an evening when seclusion sheltered her, as though she were

    a solitary doe among the gazelles, alone and unadorned.

  14. By my life—her son! Had my inmost heart not burned for him,

    love’s anguish would have died, or through her I would have gained another like him.

  15. I found consolation, though the reproachers said, “He cannot forget”;

    and I swore reproach would never reach my ears.

  16. I held myself apart until I became a rider bound for parting,

    provisioned by resolve, alone as the sword-blade stands alone.

  17. The slanderers’ tongues sought something with which to disgrace me;

    yet was I anything but a noble man whom rancor maligned?

  18. How many a faultfinder of mine has wished that I had fathered him,

    though his qualities were noble and his lineage pure,

  19. while I am remote in kinship and my glory belongs to another!

    So he censured me unstintingly, though veils hung before him.

  20. You made do without praiseworthy excellence, and drew back

    your drooping lips in the pasture to expose your two fangs.

  21. I swear: were it not for affection’s barrier between us,

    and the love and union that came with reconciliation,

  22. and for a fingertip I once extended you—not a whole hand—

    what once gave you joy would have brought you pain from me.

  23. May your mother be bereft of you while you live, though death has not struck you—

    save that a love has died, with neither blood-price nor compensation.

  24. But wait! Have I no broad way of escape from you,

    well-trodden in every direction where roads run?

  25. Ah, often I led hope toward desire

    by your promise, until delay took sole possession of it.

  26. I send hopes forth, then turn them back

    toward you for some future day, though their destination is barren.

  27. There can be no peace until you let yourself be led toward reconciliation,

    and affection and generosity hunt rancor down.

  28. By my life, I have indeed furnished generosity for its task

    with abundant wealth—but can the mule run when it is kept lean?

  29. I have restrained my tongue from you, though speech speaks plainly,

    and my rhymes, if I unleashed them against you, would grant no respite.

  30. Peace be upon you: I have uttered no slander against you,

    only praise—praise that stinginess corrupted.

Sol 5.6