Sol 6.1

  1. My night has grown long as I watch for dawn's light.

    I watch for dawn, keen-eyed for the morning.

  2. After Layla broke camp and then departed,

    She did not pause, nor hire a leader.

  3. My patience took flight, and my patience was not to blame,

    When it saw the curtained litters on the camels.

  4. She promised me and held out hope of eternity with her.

    She may favor you, or come but sparingly.

  5. And if union does not come to you except

    Grudgingly, or scant and unhonored,

  6. Or like water from an overdrawn well after replenishment,

    Its tears cut off, not returning, scant—

  7. The union you desire from me is far away;

    And small matters bring great ones about.

  8. I remember us and our people at Hafir,

    Counting time and the years as months.

  9. So we felt secure, and that deceived us, until

    Time frightened us: it had come upon us as a raider.

  10. Time has an onslaught, so beware of it.

    Never pass the night believing yourself safe from the ages.

  11. A young man may sleep in health, then perish,

    Though he had gone to bed safe and happy.

  12. Time is gentle, yet it butts fiercely;

    It leaves the bone frail and broken.

  13. So ask the people: where is the house of Qubays?

    Before them, Time crushed Sabur.

  14. Death snatched him away, and he fell,

    While even then he hoped for a long life.

  15. He had possessed armies and a crown;

    Lions feared his onslaught and his roar.

  16. And the noble sons of al-Asfar, the kings—

    —of the Romans: none of them remains remembered.

  17. So call a soul to its right path before ruin.

    Ruin is nothing but visiting the graves.

  18. Do not sleep away your whole day in ignorance.

    And remember, and keep remembrance alive.

  19. And earn your soul a plea of innocence,

    And a means of passage that eases hardship.

  20. O seeker of a path to salvation,

    Instill righteousness as an inward resolve in your heart.

  21. Indeed, your two days are close at hand today—so know

    Which of your two days, of the two, of the two, is to come round.

  22. I do not see death outstripping death at all;

    Death has embittered the wealthy and the poor.

  23. It overtakes the elusive wild beast, and brings—

    —down the birds on the mountain peak as they seek out their nests.

  24. Where, where is escape from what will come?

    I see no bird that has escaped by flying.

  25. O heedless sleeper, take heed,

    Lest you be the misled and deluded one.

  26. And restrain your soul from its desires, taking care

    Lest you be overtaken and forestalled.

  27. Where are our fathers? Yet we hope,

    After our fathers, for immortality, in delusion.

  28. And deaths come morning and evening;

    Every day we see one of their slain.

  29. How many a healthy man you see walking today,

    And tomorrow lies buried, filling a shroud.

  30. And many a fallen man, drenched in blood,

    The spears of war made him carrion for vultures.

  31. War made a fierce charge, then pierced him with

    A keen blade, bearing patterned streaks, sharpened.

  32. So walk with moderation when you walk, and take heed:

    Indeed, in moderation lie a clear path and bridges.

  33. Indeed, in moderation there is good for the son of Adam,

    And a path easy for the weak.

Sol 6.1