Sol 6.1

  1. Is there, in the first outpourings of streaming tears,

    when they flow freely, a cure for anguish within the ribs?

  2. By my life, Wasif has left, through his death,

    lingering aftereffects of sickness in sound hearts.

  3. An agonizing grief has robbed the eyes of their tears,

    for the resting place of one abiding in the earth, never departing.

  4. And oh, what prudence and resolve were folded away

    by death, newly come, beneath the earth and stone slabs!

  5. Did it grieve you that the chief of the retainers came to rest

    in an abode near his home's site, yet far away?

  6. When the announcer of his death spoke earnestly, you imagined he

    was repeating, among his reports, the words of someone joking.

  7. And I had not feared that his station would be targeted

    by anything but the glances of ambitious eyes.

  8. And had he feared injustice, he would have sought support

    from bands of thick-necked, mighty chieftains.

  9. So, what misguided judgment! How could they target him—

    his loved ones—with devastating afflictions?

  10. His supporters stayed away from him, and there was brought forth

    the folly of one deemed weak and a spiteful foe's exaggerations.

  11. Why, then, were they not kept from assailing his life

    by his coming and going, morning and evening, to please them?

  12. And why did they not marshal his might and vengeance

    for the enemy's ram, fighting to the death and locking horns?

  13. A slain man whose loss afflicts all Muslims,

    though, through close ties, it singles out Quraysh of the broad valleys.

  14. He departed with a resolve that upheld the caliphate,

    ever-watchful, and a heart sincere in counsel to the caliph.

  15. And he was there to straighten affairs when they grew tangled

    for him, and to direct wars pregnant with strife.

  16. When they raced in the arena of judgment, they were outstripped

    by the experience of a mature steed renowned for taking the lead.

  17. May his remembered days be watered, every evening and morning,

    by successive clouds, coming at dawn and returning at dusk.

  18. Take comfort, Commander of the Faithful, for these are

    the calamities of time's grievous turns.

  19. If they seized your retainer at dawn, it was only after

    they had set weary mourners lamenting over the peoples.

  20. He passed away without reproach, and his memory became

    the ornament of rhymes for elegist and panegyrist alike.

  21. So I have never seen a departed man whose loss matched his,

    nor a successor from one like him to equal Salih.

  22. Dignified, he is tested by affairs, and then

    their cloud clears, revealing a man of weighty, surpassing forbearance.

  23. You cast him toward al-Sham's horizon, and what you truly

    cast was a star gleaming in the darkness.

  24. When men's paths diverge, you find him

    steadfast on a clear path of speech.

  25. He will please you by his manner in affairs and his conduct,

    and spare you the trouble of the arrogant, wayward man.

Sol 6.1