Sol 5.6

  1. The raven’s cry startled me, Yazīd,

    warning me to beware of parting from my loved ones.

  2. O my affliction! O the turmoil within my very entrails

    and my soul, all because of a croaking bird!

  3. Parting spoke plainly through the croaking, yet it did not

    speak plainly to me, in its croaking, of any return.

  4. Then, in anguish at it, my tears burst forth,

    streaming down in an unbroken flood.

  5. And I was robbed of sleep, until I seemed

    sore-eyed—or as though my eyes were lined with bitter ṣāb.

  6. I said to my heart, when it folded away union with Suʿdā,

    for love of her, whose avenues lay far beyond reach:

  7. You are like one who flees the rain

    for fear of wetness—straight to the waterspout.

Sol 5.6