Sol 5.6

  1. Our bodies are dust, and they are the dust,

    when estrangement from kin has passed away.

  2. It takes fright when it senses, toward its own soil,

    a homecoming—though nearness is wearisome to it.

  3. That leaves less scope for maladies within them,

    even were they as sound as the raven.

  4. Cares hang suspended in the air;

    their souls yearn eagerly for honor.

  5. So spears are shattered by spear-thrusts,

    and swords are notched by blows.

  6. Rivalry over the world’s dross—though sufficient for one complaining

    of hunger is food, and for one allied with thirst, a drink.

  7. A mongrel has corrupted the essence of noble pedigrees,

    as among horses the purebred Arabians have been corrupted.

  8. And kings grow insolent amid their riches;

    when needy petitioners come to drink, the kings prove a mirage.

  9. Greed may rend even the lions of the thicket,

    so enclosures and pens contain them.

  10. When lofty fortune does not bestir itself,

    no restless striving of yours will avail.

  11. As though the sword had not gone unused for an age,

    once baldric and scabbard are adorned.

  12. Four elements unite within us, and then flare up

    through them, among us, rancors and warfare.

  13. Even if a spirit inhabited the mountains of the earth,

    neither Niḍād nor Arāb would endure forever.

Sol 5.6