Sol 6.1

  1. Who will help a heart lovesick or grief-stricken,

    That has defied every adviser and well-wisher?

  2. About Salma or her neighbors, I am not

    One to heed anyone's words about her.

  3. Her soft fingers captivated me,

    Like rawhide thongs set in something like hail.

  4. And a cool, sweet mouth like daisies, mingled with

    A sprinkling of rain-cloud water, without chill.

  5. Noble of gaze, her coyness soft and gentle,

    She has never struggled with a wretched life of hardship.

  6. She steals glances with a wild-ox calf's two eyes,

    Turning about between sand and hard ground.

  7. Have you asked war about her brothers,

    When the stallions among men were covered in foam?

  8. And they hailed one another with long, seasoned spears,

    Driving the weaker from the stronger's line.

  9. An age passes away, and this is an age

    That diminishes every tribe and every multitude.

  10. And when I remind myself of what has passed,

    It returns to my eyes like the sleeplessness of inflamed eyes:

  11. People from whom I once hoped for help

    Now lie extinguished beneath the earth.

  12. And I see myself toiling after they are gone,

    Striving for wealth, hoping for a distant future,

  13. Laboring, supposing I am immortal,

    Unknowing of today, yet preparing ease for tomorrow.

  14. I see no fortress that saves its inhabitants;

    Every living being is destined to perish and come to an end.

  15. So leave falsehood and turn toward piety;

    And reverence for your Lord is a pledge of right guidance.

  16. And speak well of whoever has spoken well,

    And firmly keep yourself from foolish speech.

  17. And many a rain-soaked tract, its male ostriches lively,

    Like Abyssinian men dashing with staves,

  18. I have traversed its depths, with a sturdy mount beneath me,

    Blending a walk with running, like a lone wild bull.

  19. At cockcrow, a broad-chested steed was in my hands,

    Its lower frame ample, its withers massive.

  20. He lengthens his stride whenever you urge him on,

    Mixing swift running with canter and gallop.

  21. Then a white-bellied wild ass emerged, following four females,

    Lean-flanked, on a hard, level plain.

  22. Pouring out repeated brays, rumbling at midmorning,

    Running swiftly, his coat like palm-fiber cord.

  23. A downpour from him engulfs the quarry,

    Sure-footed on soft sand, long-striding on hard ground.

Sol 6.1