Sol 6.1

  1. A lowering cloud kept me sleepless; all night within it

    lightning flashes climbed hoary heads.

  2. Mashrafi swords gleamed upon its heights,

    and revealed the face of a fresh, fine cloth.

  3. As though bands of mourners had spent the night upon it,

    dyeing mourning cloths with streaming blood.

  4. They flashed their palms over Adi,

    and their returning motions were bent toward their bosoms.

  5. It watered al-Aqiq's valley-floor as far as Ufaq,

    then Fathur, as far as the foot of the dune.

  6. Then a downpour drenched al-Adhal's summit,

    then Falj, an-Nabi, and Dhu Karib.

  7. From it came dense, steadily pouring rain,

    and a bountiful downpour branching into streams.

  8. As though surges of a dark cloud sweeping over it

    skirted a piper, then the groaning of old she-camels.

  9. It came with what the Pleiades supplied it,

    entrusting its course to the south wind's copious showers.

  10. The enemies schemed, sparing no evil

    against me—by the Lord of Mecca and the Cross.

  11. They wanted me held back from a great man,

    then imprisoned or tumbled into a well.

  12. I faced your adversary and did not retreat,

    though they had drawn you into a grievous day.

  13. I confronted them openly and concealed every secret,

    like what lies between bark and palm-stalk.

  14. So you prevailed over them when we met,

    winning your crown as a canny lot-arrow wins.

  15. My concern is not that my favor was clouded,

    but the strange things I have encountered.

  16. This is not the first I have met

    of time's calamities and misfortune close at hand.

  17. Nor do I seek inquiry after learning the news

    that hurried riders have carried to Death.

  18. What have I to do with it, with the courier around me,

    when my grief would strike me down if I dwelt on it?

  19. Apart from horrors, worry comes at dawn

    upon one burdened with cares and anguish, deeply shaken.

  20. God's bounty answers it on my behalf,

    and my patience amid the assaults of calamity.

  21. Oh, who will convey my message to al-Nu'man?

    For counsel may be offered in one's absence.

  22. Was my lot a chain and a fetter,

    and a neck-shackle? The explanation lies with the discerning man.

  23. And they are now with you just as they wished,

    while favors may be hoped for from one who rewards.

  24. News reached you that my imprisonment had grown long,

    yet you did not inquire about a despoiled prisoner.

  25. I have no supporter except women,

    widows who have wasted away with sobbing.

  26. They let tears stream down for Adi,

    like an old waterskin betrayed by a stepson's stitching.

  27. They fear the slanderers' harm to Adi,

    and the sins they have laid to his charge.

  28. So if I erred or misjudged a matter,

    a loyal friend may err concerning his beloved.

  29. If I do wrong, you have already punished me;

    if I am wronged, that is part of my allotted fate.

  30. If I perish, you will feel my loss and be left unsupported

    when spear-tips clash in times of crisis.

  31. Will you then remedy what we face,

    and not be overruled in sound, right judgment?

  32. And today I have entrusted my cause

    to a Lord who is near and answers.

Sol 6.1