Sol 5.6

  1. Whenever Umāmah is mentioned, my self-possession deserts me;

    though her dwelling lies far away, I remain enthralled.

  2. I am deeply enamored of her, however distant her abode;

    it is as though remembering her had stricken me with fever.

  3. Wasted away, my body does not return to me;

    it is as though I had been given a biting serpent’s venom to drink.

  4. And from many a man nursing rancor I have held myself back,

    though I was fully capable of harming him.

  5. My sword is keen, with no flaw in it,

    but al-Nabīt, my clan, restrains me from reckless wrongdoing.

  6. Whenever my appointed day comes, you will not find me

    grieving over the wealth I then leave behind.

  7. I am gentle with them and ransom them with my own life,

    in the close press of spears, when I meet the foe.

  8. Amid calamities, I pledge my firstborn’s hand

    for my neighbor in a grave crisis, if disaster overtakes me.

  9. So long as he remains, I regard him as having a rightful claim upon me,

    my partner in my lands for as long as I live.

Sol 5.6