Sol 5.6

  1. He blamed me; had he been fair, he would not have blamed.

    Does he not fear opening the door to quarrel?

  2. He reproaches me, though the fault is an ingrained trait of his—

    one at which a sensible man may rightly smile.

  3. Aloof, yet he weeps at my aloofness, like one

    who complains of wounds while shooting the arrows.

  4. O master, who has never ceased

    to hold in my heart a place none can attain:

  5. A letter from you reached me, bearing

    a gentle reproach like the cooing of doves.

  6. It complains of my withdrawal during a fast that came

    when, amid the plague, a lām stood in the mīm’s place.

  7. My withdrawal from you springs from neither hatred nor

    shortcoming, nor rejection of the bond’s rightful claim.

  8. I only reared you as a sapling, one endowed with

    a freshness I tended with care.

  9. How often I imposed upon myself, despite

    my weakness, the armor of steadfastness for this sapling.

  10. Then came my separation, and this plague came upon mankind,

    embittering life and weakening the bones.

  11. God is my refuge from a plague that has taken captives,

    hovering over the spirit, poisonous to the soul.

  12. Were dreams to whisper privately to a man about it,

    his eye would refuse to sleep.

  13. May God preserve us and you

    from its evil, for it is the fiercest of foes.

  14. If God shields us from its evil

    and I return to learning, we may hope to reunite.

  15. But if it should be otherwise—and God suffices in its stead—

    if this be so, then prayer avails beneath the piled grave-stones.

  16. How could any fair-minded man forget his shaykh?

    Or how could he forget a follower or a young servant?

  17. I am one who has kept company with people and never

    once burdened them as some ignoble men do.

  18. If I am unsalable in Aleppo,

    surely my market has standing elsewhere.

  19. Certain people trouble me, while many a worthy man

    longs to see me, even in a dream.

  20. Neither my marketability nor my lack of demand weighs upon

    my heart, nor does thought of either ever visit me.

  21. Whoever casts all things out of his heart

    finds solitude the same as a crowd.

  22. I am content; contentment ennobles a man,

    for I have seen greed abase the noble.

  23. I have come to hope for no increase, nor

    fear any loss. My discourse is done.

  24. This tongue of mine pretends to blame you,

    but in my heart I hold no blame against you.

  25. The covenant abides, and my prayer for you

    is faithful; my affection endures. Peace.

Sol 5.6