Sol 5.6

  1. Sulaymā reproaches me because my visits have ceased,

    and because my heart has cooled after all that ardor.

  2. I said to her, “Enough reproach, my neighbor:

    my body’s fire died down when my beacon caught flame,

  3. and my life grew dark when its blaze shone—

    carnelian-red. My gray hair warns that my hour is near.

  4. It stiffened my ribs and bowed my stature.”

    Then I said, when the birds of my longing had flown:

  5. “O owl, you have now nested atop my crown,

    against my will, when its raven took flight.

  6. Treacherous Time betrayed me, and you betrayed me too;

    with the sword of youth’s loss, you killed me.

  7. Yet, by God, I did not blame you when you betrayed me:

    you saw in me a lifetime laid waste, and so you visited,

  8. for of all dwellings, it is their ruins that you make your home.”

    How wondrously varied are the stages of a mortal’s life:

  9. when his cheek glows red and his mettle grows strong,

    when his first down appears and his myrtle greens;

  10. then, when a man’s face pales and his head turns white,

    the sweetest of his days are shaken away.

Sol 5.6