Sol 6.1

  1. I stood at Your door, O God,

    and whoever is accepted is fortunate.

  2. And I called to You, O God,

    O You who are worshipped.

  3. I do not know whether accepted

    is my prayer, or rejected.

  4. Nor do I know whether, outside the door,

    I am banished from Your goodness.

  5. I am the offender, and my sin bears witness

    against me, and is itself witnessed.

  6. I am ill-fated in my striving,

    yet my hope in You is fortunate.

  7. Beside my sin, light are

    the hills of Hira and Amud.

  8. In my life it brings bitterness,

    in my drinking it brings distress.

  9. And my days, though white,

    are blackened by its darkening.

  10. And all my night is worry

    at its impact, and sleeplessness.

  11. The world has closed in upon me,

    and the bearer of burdens is rejected.

  12. O You who are a being,

    unlike other things, and existent,

  13. with neither equal nor opposite,

    nor likeness nor limitation.

  14. He is the Eternal Refuge, the Originator, the Unique One,

    sought in times of need.

  15. I asked You to be generous to me,

    O You whose bounty is bounty itself,

  16. for forgiveness of sins, for

    my neck has weakened beneath their weight.

  17. I am the servant who, through sin,

    is shackled and fettered.

  18. A captive with none to ransom him,

    and my heart is stricken by it.

  19. I am entombed in this world,

    and the bearer of sins is entombed.

  20. My sin has indeed disgraced me,

    and the disgraced are shunned.

  21. If my deeds are weighed [reading uncertain],

    then the counterfeit is exposed.

  22. I belong neither to the children of this world,

    nor am I counted among those of the next.

  23. And whoever has missed deeds of righteousness

    is left alone.

  24. I love the deeds of the virtuous,

    for You, my nature is limited.

  25. So my reach falls short of theirs,

    but my hope stretches far.

  26. Along the paths of hope, I have

    deep immersion and affirmation of oneness.

  27. And I occupy myself with what offers no

    benefit to me, and with vacillation.

  28. As though I could trust in time,

    and had a settled place within it.

  29. Nor have I considered those destroyed

    by the white days and black nights.

  30. For no parent remains upon it

    forever, nor any child.

  31. Alike, in the dust have settled

    the hated and the beloved,

  32. those who envy blessings,

    and those envied for excellence.

  33. So where is the digger of the trench?

    And the trench has worn him away.

  34. And where is Yahya, the chosen one,

    and Canaan and Nimrod,

  35. and the son of the launcher of raids,

    As'ad, and the young man Hud?

  36. They are opposites in their deeds,

    yet death makes no distinction.

  37. Behold, the heedless one comes away from it

    with loss; you are watched.

  38. And one of the two abodes is what you,

    O deluded one, are promised:

  39. either the Garden of Refuge,

    or the Fire, an eternal stay.

  40. O my Lord, O Worshipped One,

    and the One worshipped is the One sought.

  41. I repent to You, for repentance

    is the key to forgiveness.

  42. I stood at Your door, O God,

    and the visitor is received.

  43. And I hope from You that I shall not be

    barred from reaching the Pool.

  44. I have come to the pools of Your pardon; surely

    the pools of Your bounty are sought.

  45. For You are God; no exhaustion befalls You

    in whatever You will.

  46. If You find fault with me, I am the one

    deserving it, and You are praiseworthy.

  47. And if You pardon me, indeed

    Your pardon is vast and abundant.

  48. So whoever tended the prostrate deserts [wording unclear]—

    and the benefactor—then generosity [wording unclear].

Sol 6.1