Sol 6.1

  1. Why not fabricate, since you have found no source of pride of your own?

    Indeed, sometimes falsehood runs alongside truth.

  2. So you may praise what is in them, even if you are lying,

    and someone ignorant of it may hear it, O son of al-Marāgha.

  3. But you claim kinship with others besides them, when a shot is loosed

    toward the farthest, distant target by their rival archer.

  4. Then you will know that, if you claim to be better than them,

    you have lied, and what you say has disgraced you.

  5. Reach for the star's station if you are seeking

    the sons of Dārim; see when you can seek it.

  6. For the star is nearer to your reach than they are.

    Attend to your charge: mend the pen of the camels you herd.

  7. Was it not something to make people tremble, to see

    Kulayb singing about Ibn Laylā, contending with him?

  8. My father, Mālik—no father you know

    of yours, beneath the earth's roots, equals him.

  9. I marveled at the Kulaybite's build: suspended were

    his hands, though his fingertips had not grown strong in gripping.

  10. So take this and unravel it, for it

    has strong rope-strands and firm joins.

Sol 6.1