1. O eye, pour forth tears stirred by memories;

    For none of your tears should be saved for a later day.

  2. Indeed, the caliph's virtues have been hidden away

    By a dust-grey grave, with a burial niche and a bend in its side.

  3. His sons, their calamity grown grievous, have become

    Like stars from whose midst the moon has fallen.

  4. They were present, yet none warded off his death:

    Neither Abd al-Aziz, nor Rawh, nor Umar,

  5. Nor Khalid. Had Time desired his ransom,

    They would have laid a costly wager, if the stake could be accepted.

  6. Indeed, al-Abbas's alarm left me wasted with fear

    When the news reached him at the monastery of al-Qastal.

Sol 6.1