Sol 6.1

  1. I deliberately forsook youthful passion, though I scarcely could,

    without gray hair, illness, or failing wits.

  2. Whoever may have a burning liver, drained away now is

    love’s heat from my heart and my liver.

  3. O mistress of the secluded chamber, I have resolved on the

    forgetting of you, though I have not resolved on wisdom.

  4. I broke love’s covenant when their covenant proved false;

    and I changed when those who shunned and kept away changed.

  5. I consoled myself with despair’s coolness after they left,

    but not through patience or fortitude did I find consolation.

  6. Love and separation are two things that never unite

    and leave anyone yearning for another.

  7. Nothing turns a love-distraught man from his longing

    like firm resolve and the swift stride of a sturdy, strongly built she-camel.

  8. Toward Abu Nahshal our riding camels kept

    striding swiftly from a distant land to another.

  9. Toward a youth of radiant character: if cast

    from the sun’s rays, his virtues would shine no brighter.

  10. He dispatches deaths in swift succession, then follows them

    with bright gifts, neither threatening nor promising.

  11. And one clad in wealth’s shade: generosity forever

    wages within it the battles of Tayy against Banu Asad.

  12. The sons of Humayd are a people whose swords hold

    honor for the humbled and death for the valiant horseman.

  13. Theirs are firm resolves of judgment: if you hurled them

    at the night’s stars amid battle, those stars would blaze no more.

  14. Generosity and kindness stand bewildered among them;

    so no generosity passes beyond them to anyone.

  15. But for their deeds—which God has honored—

    the memory of noble achievements would have died for all eternity.

  16. White of face and pure of character, their passion

    for valor and generosity is a mother’s passion for her child.

  17. Muhammad ibn Humayd, what noble distinction

    have you not attained with one white hand after another?

  18. Traits of Humayd are plain in you;

    they carry the breeze of gardens on rugged, firm ground.

  19. A smile in giving, a frown in battle,

    like lightning and thunder amid a hail-bearing cloud.

  20. You gave until you left the wind exhausted;

    and were so generous it seemed the rain had never given.

Sol 6.1