Sol 5.6

  1. Many a companion in my little band—I halted with him

    at Zarūd, while the billows of night swept over us.

  2. He folded an arm and let the trailing ends of his locks fall

    upon the dune, hollow-bellied and famished.

  3. I called to him after the south wind had made him droop:

    “O Abū Nuʿāmah, we have reached the cool of evening—get up now!”

  4. He rose, though sleep still lay flung within his eye sockets;

    whenever he sent his gaze forth, it came back drowsy.

  5. He lagged behind while the caravan’s mounts went on—

    what folly! A man’s reason had surely been clouded over.

  6. He longed for sleep, as though the sand beneath him had been laid

    as cushions by the daughter of Manẓūr ibn Zabbān.

Sol 5.6