Sol 5.6

  1. Do not ask how I fare, now that they have gone far away.

    How fares one who mourns the serene nights?

  2. Where is that carefree heart? And my hours—

    of fellowship have become utterly empty.

  3. Where are my towering hopes, and all that

    followed them in hopes fulfilled?

  4. Where is that imagination which knew no fetter,

    but has become an order stripped of imagination?

  5. O my friend, my exemplar, and O

    my mentor—a generation takes pride in you among generations!

  6. I shall not forget that countenance, nor what

    it revealed of wisdom and noble traits.

  7. I shall not forget those qualities

    that embodied you for us in the most beloved image.

  8. I shall not forget that fluency of

    speech, whose words seemed a necklace of pearls.

  9. I shall not forget those lessons, nor what

    they held of wisdom and lofty judgment.

  10. All that has passed from my youth I see

    revived today as a thought within my mind.

  11. Alas that you should depart, O glory of my age,

    which your hands adorned with favors.

  12. Within it you kindled the sun of inspiration,

    and it became its guide out of error.

  13. By refining men, you bestowed upon your people

    a chosen company among men.

  14. You fashioned heroes in intellect and nobility,

    and, by my life, they are the choicest heroes.

  15. My grief increased when you went far away, though

    you may think me consoled; I am not consoled.

  16. Among my soul’s desires was the sight of you,

    and among my wishes, that you answer my question.

  17. Yet longing would give me no rest; only

    an excess of duties stood between me and our meeting.

  18. O you now resting with the relief of a debtor

    who has paid his debt after long delay.

  19. What is life, whose edifice rises from remnants

    of its own ruin, while the new is woven from the worn?

  20. And its years, whether shortened or prolonged—the burden

    is one and the same in the short and in the long.

  21. Only the grave, for man, marks the end of affliction,

    sleeplessness, and crushing cares.

  22. Through it, disparities among humankind come to an end,

    as do the differences in their allotted spans.

  23. So receive the finest recompense for all that

    you rendered beforehand in magnificent deeds.

  24. And peace be upon you in a garden watered

    by forgiveness from your Lord Most High.

Sol 5.6