Sol 6

  1. Sleep drove the vision of Musallim from my eyes.

    It returned from Asma while the caravan slept.

  2. My companions and I remained scattered in the darkness.

    I delighted in the wearer of the flowing sash and found bliss.

  3. A woman asked about me, and I said in wonder:

    As though you did not know what a love-struck person is like.

  4. Lend me, may I shield you from harm, one loving glance.

    Perhaps you will pity me, or perhaps show mercy.

  5. For in love I am only your bondservant.

    And you are the master who holds all power.

  6. I accept what pleases you, through displeasure and contentment.

    And I overlook it, though I know you wrong me.

  7. I have despaired of fairness between him and me.

    How could I obtain fairness when my adversary is the judge?

  8. A calamity of these days made me forget love.

    It made death's shade seem sweet, though death is bitter as colocynth.

  9. By God, I spoke of love only as a remnant.

    My heart burns with a fire other than love.

  10. Will someone carry a message from me to al-Husayn?

    The pearls of carefully arranged words contain it.

  11. Sweet sleep is forbidden me until I see you.

    And the fire of sorrow blazes within my breast.

  12. I refrain from weeping for you for fear of a bad omen.

    Yet my heart weeps and my ribs beat against it.

  13. If my eyelids falter, they deserve blame.

    And if I forget, my heart is baser still.

  14. Before enemies I show fortitude on your account.

    I conceal what I suffer, and God knows.

  15. I shall weep for you as long as time leaves me an eye.

    If tears fail me, blood will not.

  16. My lot is to weep always over what befalls me.

    Labid's judgment allowed grief only a full year.

  17. We are like Wa'il and Muhalhil.

    In affection, or like Malik and Mutammim.

  18. He and I are an eye and its fellow.

    He and I are a hand and its wrist.

  19. The days accompany us dressed as a counselor.

    Yet from among them a speckled serpent ambushes us in safety.

  20. The nights have done nothing strange in your case;

    They split us from every side and leave us broken.

  21. Calamities come by night, their arrivals never interrupted.

    The events of days press on, following one another.

  22. They have shown me nothing I did not already know.

    Nor taught me anything I did not know before.

  23. When have the nights failed to strike one of us, a man of resolve?

    The turns of death burden him, and he bears them.

  24. War makes a precious life seem cheap to us.

    When finely woven praise compensates us for it.

  25. I would be naïve to accept a companion

    Who smiles while another side of him scowls.

  26. We are a people whose leaders always

    Find drink and food amid mortal dangers.

  27. We looked upon this age and its people.

    And whatever it scatters or gathers became slight to us.

  28. We call one generous who gives his wealth.

    But one who offers his precious life is more generous.

  29. Why should I not go forward with honor, when my goal

    Is far away and my conduct is in no way blameworthy?

  30. If flight cannot save one from death

    In any circumstance, patience offers more hope and firmer judgment.

  31. May God protect you; we go and return.

    We prepare campaigns across the lands and win spoils.

  32. Our spears enter the throats of horsemen.

    They pierce them like pearls and string them together.

  33. We shall strike them while swords still have hilts.

    And thrust at them while spears still have points.

  34. We shall pursue them beyond the gulf on lean horses.

    They ford seas whose inlets sometimes run with blood.

  35. With every young warrior of Nizar and other peoples.

    He wears a finely wrought coat of mail.

  36. We lead the horses al-Wajih and Lahiq left behind.

    Along with all that al-Jadil and Shadqam left behind.

  37. We carry the stout, tall spears;

    They are a road and ladder to lofty deeds.

  38. I saw them hoping to avenge one killed before.

    Yet every day the sword takes more of them.

  39. Say to Ibn Fuqqas: leave war aside.

    For you are a Roman, and your adversary is a Muslim.

  40. Your face is struck, and your mother bereaved.

    Your grandson is captive, and your wife is widowed.

  41. The bright blades have not recoiled from you in any encounter;

    But killing an old man is forbidden among us.

  42. When our tents are pitched beyond the gulf

    And humiliation settles over you like an encampment,

  43. And the king pays us a tribute levied on his head,

    And the captives' bonds are undone and they are handed over,

  44. If you seek reconciliation, reconciliation is good.

    And if you incline to peace, peace is safer.

  45. Are these the ways of Sayf al-Dawla, the noble champion? Indeed,

    They are among the things you have revealed, or greater still.

  46. Sayf al-Dawla, the noble champion, has a habit:

    He seeks to tame the most intractable marvels, and they yield.

  47. It was called the sword of guidance; I said that he

    Does what the best of doers do and is honored.

  48. Did he not rescue Abu Wa'il from the touch and weight of iron,

    While bright swords ruled amid bright helmets?

  49. War assails him from every side.

    Yet he is neither impatient nor harsh nor weary.

  50. A man of firm resolve in battle, when

    A decree from God comes, irrevocable.

  51. When our affairs close in on us, we hasten

    To the bright face of his counsel while trouble is dark.

  52. We cast a matter too heavy for us to bear

    Upon our champion, who handles it more surely.

  53. Upon a man you meet as a single person,

    But who in battle is a vast army.

  54. The weight of his tread bears heavily on enemies.

    He is hard on their mouths when they test his mettle.

  55. We hold back from some things out of awe.

    Yet he knows and understands what the heart conceals.

  56. We commit offenses against him, and he pardons them.

    At times we wrong him, and he shows forbearance.

  57. They demand ransom from us for you, but we

    Hope to reclaim you by force and humble their pride.

  58. Would you accept that our rivals receive an equal share with us

    When glory is divided between the two contending sides?

  59. Captivity is no loss, and trial is praiseworthy.

    Nor is victory mere gain, nor death disgrace.

  60. By my life, I have done all I could, though few helped.

    And you advanced, if only the battalions had advanced.

  61. You called to those who held back when spears crossed.

    And called to men deaf to you as the attack was pressed.

  62. Son of those who preceded others to high honor, you were not disgraced

    By other men's delay while you led the way.

  63. Why would you not face death with your very life,

    When you belong to those people who are truly themselves?

  64. Take heart, my brother; may no harm touch you. For

    Such is time: misery and blessings in its two states.

  65. It would not grieve me to be a captive in your place

    And surrender myself to bonds if you were safe.

  66. I sought you until I had no other aim.

    And I pressed forward until few would go farther.

  67. No infirmity kept me from reaching you.

    But a fixed decree kept me from you.

  68. If this matter is immense, God is above it.

    And if what we seek is great, God is greater.

  69. For your sake I try to conceal what is plainly visible.

    I hide a longing that cannot be hidden.

  70. If I had given your loss all the grief it deserves,

    No hand of mine would write, nor would my mouth speak.

Sol 6