Sol 5.6

  1. And a woman cried, terror filling her heart:

    “We are in the Valley of Fear, and the night is pitch-black.

  2. The horses have overtaken us, with riders on their backs!

    Quick—carry us to safety! The horsemen have caught us!”

  3. So with a smile I brushed the fear from her shoulders—

    a man’s mouth may smile while his heart is frowning.

  4. I am one whom night itself fears, while poverty stands gaunt;

    the tyrant fears me, and the despairing hopes in me.

  5. I kept company with my own people; once I had tested them,

  6. their tongues, whenever I was absent, were barbed,

    but in my presence their eyes were lowered.

  7. One confronts me with words, putting on a show of bravado,

    and, by God, that bravado makes me laugh.

  8. I lost my senses at the sight of her beauty;

    and charming women undo the devotion of the devout.

Sol 5.6