Sol 6

  1. Is it death and its uncertainties that make you ache?

    Time gives no satisfaction to one who grieves.

  2. Umaymah said, “Why is your body so pale

    since you have grown worn, though one with your wealth may prosper?

  3. And why can your side find no resting place

    without that bed making you restless?”

  4. I answered her: “What has happened to my body is that

    my sons have perished and departed from this land.

  5. My sons have perished, leaving me a choking grief

    after sleep, and tears that never cease.

  6. They went before my wishes and hastened after their own desires;

    then they were taken, and every side has its place of falling.

  7. I remained after them in a weary life,

    and I think I shall follow, summoned after them.

  8. I was eager to ward death away from them,

    but when death comes, it cannot be repelled.

  9. When death sinks in its claws,

    you find that every amulet is useless.

  10. Since they died, my eyes are as though their pupils

    had been pierced by thorns: wounded eyes that weep.

  11. I am like a hard stone under the blows of calamity,

    struck each day against the rock of al-Musharraq.

  12. Destruction surely awaits; wait and see

    whether your fall comes in your people's land or another.

  13. I used to think weeping was foolishness,

    but one who is bereaved will surely be given to tears.

  14. A day will surely come for you, once,

    when people weep over you, shrouded and unable to hear.

  15. I show endurance to those who gloat,

    so they see that the reversals of time do not make me falter.

  16. The soul longs for more when you encourage its longing;

    when brought back to little, it is content.

  17. How many a united household, joined in affection,

    spent the night in ease and then was scattered.

  18. If time and its uncertainties have struck them with loss,

    I too have been bereaved of those I love.

  19. Time, amid its changes, does not spare

    even the strongest creature sheltered atop a high peak.

  20. Time, amid its changes, does not spare

    a dark backed creature with four pale markings,

  21. loud at the muzzle, as though it were always

    a servant of Abu Rabiʿah's family charged with feeding beasts.

  22. It ate the fresh grass, while a lean female followed it,

    straight as a spear shaft, and the lush pastures stirred it.

  23. In the bottoms of hollows drenched by heavy rain,

    the rain poured for a time without stopping.

  24. The females lingered awhile, jostling in a meadow,

    while he now strove among them, now frisked.

  25. Then, when the water in its pools receded

    and the span of their stay was drawing to an end,

  26. he thought of leading them to water, but an ill omen

    troubled his purpose, and his death drew near.

  27. He drove them from the open ground, though its water

    was scant and a broad road lay across his way.

  28. In the valley between Yunabiʿ

    and Awlat Dhi al-ʿArjaʾ, they looked like booty gathered together.

  29. The females seemed a bundle of gaming arrows, and he

    a player casting the lots and calling them out.

  30. He seemed a pestle turning

    in the hand, only broader in the ribs.

  31. They came to water when al-ʿAyyuq stood at the watcher's station on the scree

    above al-Nazm, without rising higher.

  32. They entered pockets of sweet, cold water,

    where the stony streambeds hid their legs.

  33. They drank, then heard a sound beyond

    the high barrier, and the uncertain beat of a knocking.

  34. They heard the faint sound of a hunter girded for action,

    with a rough, blunt bow in his hand.

  35. They sensed him and fled; a broad headed leader

    and a gaunt guide struggled against him.

  36. He shot an arrow through a mature female,

    and it fell, its feathers crumpled.

  37. Then another creature's flank showed to him, veering

    in haste; he rummaged through his quiver for another arrow.

  38. He shot and lodged a long, forceful arrow

    in its flank, where the ribs closed around it.

  39. He scattered them toward their deaths: one fled

    with the last of its life, another crouched in agony.

  40. They stumbled against the sharp blades, as though

    their forelegs wore the patterned cloaks of Banu Yazid.

  41. Time, amid its changes, does not spare

    a frightened young gazelle startled by dogs.

  42. The fierce dogs seized its heart with fear;

    at the sight of the unmistakable dawn, it panicked.

  43. It sought shelter among the arta shrubs whenever

    rain exhausted it and a wet, shaking wind blew.

  44. It searched the unseen distance with its eyes, while its gaze

    was lowered, and its sight confirmed what it heard.

  45. At morning it turned its back toward the east and saw

    the foremost of the pursuing pack close by, being urged on.

  46. It sprang up in fright, while its gaps were closed by

    dust colored, fierce dogs, two full grown and one cropped.

  47. They snapped at it; it drove them off and defended itself,

    stout of leg and marked on both sides of its face.

  48. It turned on them with two sharp horns, as though

    their tips bore red dye spattered in drops.

  49. They seemed two roasting spits, not yet set over the fire,

    hurriedly withdrawn from a feast's roast meat.

  50. The dogs brought it down beneath the dust, its side

    covered with earth; every side has its place of falling.

  51. When the pack turned back and he struck a group

    of them, the straggler rose whimpering.

  52. The dogs' master appeared to him, holding

    slender white arrows with ragged fletching.

  53. He shot to save his fleeing dogs; an arrow flew at the gazelle

    and passed through both sides of its neck.

  54. It stumbled like a lean, exhausted stallion

    on the open plain, though it was more fleet than he.

  55. Time, amid its changes, does not spare

    a warrior clad in linked iron and a helmet.

  56. His armor grew hot upon him until his face

    was darkened by its heat on the day of battle.

  57. A hollow flanked mount raced beneath him, its running breaking

    the saddle's rings, while it surged on with loose reins.

  58. He withheld its morning drink, and hunger drew its flesh tight

    against the sinews, so that a finger sank into it.

  59. Its sinews stood out around something blood red,

    like an earring; its withered udder gave no milk.

  60. It refused to yield its milk when pressed,

    except for a little that came out in drops.

  61. Amid his grappling with warriors and darting aside,

    one day a bold, impetuous opponent confronted him.

  62. A gaunt mount ran beneath that man, as though it were

    a sound mountain goat whose gait never limped.

  63. The two called out, and their horses halted face to face;

    each was a battle hardened champion.

  64. Both defended their honor, each confident

    in his prowess, on a day of dreadful combat.

  65. They wore two coats of mail, wrought

    by David, or by Tubbaʿ, maker of ample armor.

  66. Each held in his hand a spear from Yazan,

    with a bare, gleaming point like a beacon.

  67. Each wore at his side a shining

    sharp sword that cut whatever it struck.

  68. They struck at each other's lives with piercing blows,

    like wounds in unhealed flesh that cannot be sewn shut.

  69. Both had lived as noble men

    and won distinction, if anything could have helped them.

Sol 6