Sol 5.6

  1. Take comfort, sons of Samḥ—for whatever Samḥ has met,

    you shall surely meet; from it there is neither refuge nor escape.

  2. The span of mortal lives is nothing but wishes;

    when lives have run their course, no breadth of time avails.

  3. We cherish hopes, yet between us and their attainment—

    by my life—stand the nights, perils, and sorrow.

  4. The rich man of his people dies a pauper’s death,

    and the wretched slave is laid in earth just like the noble victor.

  5. The vicissitudes of the nights and their delusions have beguiled us;

    how often gain, through our own doing, has brought us loss.

  6. We begrudged what our hands possess, for love of it,

    yet feel no such reluctance toward what brings us harm.

  7. We obey Satan’s desire in whatever he wishes,

    and disobey Him from whom come guidance and sincere counsel.

  8. We hoard for this world, hoping it will endure,

    and hoarding casts us into what brings us harm.

  9. We swim in the deep sea of hopes, though before whatever

    is hoped for stand deaths, where swimming cannot save us.

  10. Behold, we are dead—and all this world’s children together—

    and fathers to the dead; how then can we roam free?

  11. Among the strangest things is a dead man offering solace

    for the loss of one dead, while dead himself and heading their way.

  12. Were condolences not an established custom people follow,

    I would have neither censure nor praise for them.

  13. So patience, sons of ʿAbd al-Salām, and solace in a common fate:

    whatever draught the children of Eve were given, Samḥ was given.

  14. May Samḥ’s grave, every day and every night, be watered

    through the long nights by streaming, rain-laden, heavily burdened clouds.

Sol 5.6