Sol 5.6

  1. From the passing days, O Umm ʿĀmir, there came one after another

    upon the noble men of discernment the hardest griefs to swallow.

  2. For every night affords the lowly an opportunity,

    while the pillars of eminence perish awaiting their chance.

  3. How astonishing! Does Fate allot a share

    to them as it does to the mangy? How fine these allotments are!

  4. Their own days wage war upon them with astonishing events

    containing, among treachery’s arts, the strangest of tales.

  5. Indeed, the fortune of those endowed with perfection lies asleep,

    while behold—the fortune of the lowly has begun to dance.

  6. Yet the people of eminence, in unalloyed virtue, are young men

    whose thoughts are tormented like birds within a cage.

  7. And indeed, the testing of believers is assured;

    the revealed Text has told us of it in “the finest of tales.”

Sol 5.6