Sol 6.1

  1. Time struck with an impoverishing calamity;

    indeed, Time strikes with such calamities.

  2. A man fears, while Time has

    an eye charged with watching whoever fears.

  3. And I see that solace forsook you when

    Time visited you with misfortune in the piebald horse.

  4. The adornment of processions: I mount him, and he saves

    me, lets me catch up, and is never caught.

  5. He walks while the horses run along a course,

    yet he comes in ahead of them, never outstripped.

  6. Like a wave he rises if I ride him up

    a height; in the hollows, he is like quicksilver.

  7. His hide is unblemished; his white is tinged

    with lustrous flecks of yellow.

  8. Like a white rain cloud suffused with

    the glow of sunset, its color radiant.

  9. And as though his eye had received a gift

    from corundum—the blue among its stones.

  10. And I see all my descriptions reversed,

    so I have come away with searing, burning grief over him.

  11. He weakened until he could no longer rise,

    and that lovely appearance turned white.

  12. His frame collapsed, and feeble grew

    the pillars of his firmly built body.

  13. Only the eye remained, veiled by

    the darkness of dim sight, and the ear like a shiqshiq.

  14. And I grew weary of sickness clinging to him,

    until I wished that he would die.

  15. So take resignation as compensation for him, seeking divine reward,

    and ask the All-Merciful for a replacement, and seek His provision.

Sol 6.1