Sol 5.6

  1. Console the heart when sorrow strikes,

    with consoling “somedays,” “untils,” and “perhapses.”

  2. Bear patiently the vicissitudes of time beneath its rule,

    whether its decrees grow gentle or grow harsh.

  3. Tend patience’s saplings, then give them drink

    of the water of forbearance before they wither.

  4. How many fruits have grown sweet to the taste

    when their branches throve where they were planted.

  5. And many a wine, when its filter proved poor,

    turned bitter to the taste, never to be drunk.

  6. And many a patient soul, thankful in distress,

    has donned the fine silk of radiant victory.

  7. And many a hardship befell us at dawn;

    the All-Merciful dispelled it before evening.

  8. How many an enemy has brought you some good,

    and how many a friend from whom you reaped grief.

  9. So take heed, O you endowed with prudence and sound judgment,

    lest you despair of relief from the Lord of all decrees.

Sol 5.6