Sol 5.6

  1. Tomorrow, my Ramadan will still not be over for me;

    all my lifetime is my night at the month’s end.

  2. I seek deliverance from an overpowering decree,

    deliberately aimed against me by mankind’s Subduer, through sheer force.

  3. He struck the house of Ṣakhr with rocks—and Jarwal

    with crags—and hurled the rooted mountains upon Fihr.

  4. Even if Gabriel were to fly for the rest of his life

    away from Time, he could not escape from Time.

  5. They have claimed that decay overtakes the celestial spheres;

    if that is true, impurity is no different from purity.

  6. But what no rational person can doubt

    is the nights’ betrayal of the radiant dwellers in darkness.

  7. And if it is true that the luminous bodies were created,

    why should we care about affection or kinship by marriage?

  8. Perhaps Canopus—the stallion among the stars—

    married a daughter of al-Simāk for a dowry.

  9. They say that she acts above us just as

    Earth’s children do, whether secretly or openly.

  10. Oh, would that I knew: does she fear death,

    and bow in worship at evening and at noon?

  11. And does she lie? Indeed, the falsehoods among Adam’s race are

    ingrained instincts that have brought forth hypocrisy and lechery.

Sol 5.6