Sol 5.6

  1. Dalliance has passed away, save that an inquirer may be told of it.

    Youth too has turned away, except for a few remnants—

  2. remnants over which the many forms of anguish contend,

    kept wakeful by a thought preoccupied with distant separation.

  3. Longing has drawn from me a streaming tear,

    and its haunting madness deranges me when carefree men sleep.

  4. I have grown as used to wasting sickness as to sleeplessness; even if recovery should come by night

    to me, calamities would snatch me away because of it.

  5. By God, this longing—what a wound it is!

    It has made our blood flow until we seem to be fighting it.

  6. We have accepted Love’s judgment upon us, although we

    are stubborn foes when massed armies close around us.

  7. We are men—war knows that we

    are her sons, and glory knows what we seek.

  8. When men build fortresses for themselves, we have

    no strongholds but white swords and supple, brown spears.

  9. How then can passion overpower us by its decree?

    Does it not know that I am al-Shammari, the mighty chief?

  10. I am firm of heart, my powers tightly knit,

    when the hands of noble champions seize hold.

  11. Whenever I grip the spear—and the spear is my companion—

    intent on battle, my adversary says that I am jesting.

  12. I would keep thrusting until I found no one left to thrust at,

    and fight men hand-to-hand until I found no one left to fight.

  13. I have defied this age with a resolve of my own

    that showed me the path of right guidance, while error stood barred.

  14. If the decrees of fate grant you their judgment,

    then nothing is more futile than what reproachers say.

  15. A man is truly a man only if he lives envied,

    with molars and fingertips contending over him.

  16. By your life, virtues are nothing but gifts,

    apportioned among humankind, with some surpassing others.

  17. People are only two kinds of striver: one learned,

    who travels a purposeful course, and another ignorant.

  18. Thus the learned man is held fast by the reins of his knowledge,

    while the ignorant man, cut loose from the tether, bolts away.

  19. So never seek among people even an atom’s weight

    of love from one for whom love among men is his undoer.

  20. It is a disgrace for a young man to accept what is alien to his nature,

    or for a person to keep company with someone unlike himself.

  21. I tested every kind of person, one and all, and found no one

    but al-Marsafi, the freeborn man, perfect among men:

  22. a high-souled man whom Time showed me within the folds of its mantle,

    and he taught me understanding until even the noblest were wary of me;

  23. a brother when no brother remains, and a gracious friend

    when gracious friends grow scarce amid calamities;

  24. far-ranging in thought’s field—were he to loose his horses,

    he would show you, without divination, what Time will do.

  25. I cast aside the sons of this age once I knew them;

    under close examination, people are nothing but deceptive appearances.

  26. Were he to demand of me what leads the soul to its death,

    I would lead it there—for love is fatal to the soul.

  27. May a greeting from me never cease to reach him,

    relayed on my behalf by morning and evening.

  28. May he remain fresh in life’s bloom, his heights unassailable,

    his courtyard flourishing, while the stages of journeys fold toward him.

Sol 5.6