Sol 6.1

  1. Qariba's front teeth have been broken, O brother of the Ansar.

    So rage for your wife, that she should be sent back disgraced.

  2. And know that, as long as you remain in the state

    you have come to be in, you are made to kneel in humiliation.

  3. A wife's sanctuary is not open to violation

    while her husband guards the protected ground of freeborn men.

  4. And by the life of the man who wrongfully broke Qariba's teeth,

    he did not fear her blustering husband's onslaught.

  5. Had he feared the mighty lion beside him,

    he would not have been struck with outrages that rend veils.

  6. And had he been among Mazin, there would have veered

    from him wanton violence, to the whirlwind's end.

  7. And his killing pounce and our surge with him would have been feared,

    and his claw's sharp point, by the mighty, predatory lion.

  8. And the tooth-breaker, over the mistress of his house, would have been confronted

    by him—a fearsome, ruthless raider,

  9. a traverser of valleys whose entry is feared,

    alert in resolve, his cords tightly twisted,

  10. relying on his own judgment in calamities,

    if he fears losing the elusive tracks.

  11. He does not fear, if a chance presents itself to him,

    the turns of time—'Wait!' he said, 'Wait!'

  12. And he would not have remained, his wife's front teeth broken,

    himself smeared with the blood of unavenged wrongs,

  13. uttering obscenities, sharp-tongued and glib,

    quoting bygone poems.

  14. He sends out threats, but does not guard his sanctuary,

    like a dog barking from behind the house.

Sol 6.1