Sol 6.1

  1. Tell my dear friend 'Abd Hind: may you never

    cease to be near the cultivated lands of al-Khusus,

  2. abreast of al-Furah, or on this side of it,

    not far from 'Umayr al-Lusus.

  3. Spring truffles are gathered for you,

    in the sandy hollow, moist at the roots of qasis plants.

  4. Horses hunt for you, and game is caught for you by the

    birds; you are not denied the pleasure of the chase.

  5. You eat what you wish, and take another draught of it—

    red wine from Khuss, the color of ring-gems.

  6. You were kept from me, 'Abd, in the hour of

    evil, and spared grievous troubles.

  7. Never forget me amid the pleasure of the

    cup and pursuit of the gravel-flinging, barren wild she-ass.

  8. You are a man of loyalty and truth,

    shunning the way of the lying slanderer.

  9. O 'Abd, do you remember me for a moment,

    in a cavalcade, or scouting for game,

  10. one day with the riders, when they hastened,

    as we quickened the young she-camel's pace among them?

  11. The slow one may attain his share of fortune,

    and good fortune may outstrip the eager man's striving.

  12. So may your heart remain in doubt,

    thinking of me—my ruin or deliverance.

  13. O my soul, hold back, and beware of insulting a man of

    honor; for forbearance never swerves.

  14. Ah, if only I knew, while I have wealth,

    when I shall see drinking companions around a wine-jar,

  15. in a house of wine-jars, its shade cool,

    with gazelles and narrow-eyed little birds within it.

  16. And the herd, its sleeves hemmed,

    walks slowly, like one guarding a bruised foot;

  17. musk wafts from its sleeves, and

    ambergris, laurel, and astringent storax.

  18. And in the lofty place, cooled by the north wind, is served

    greenish, mixed wine, like the water of a channel.

  19. That is better than guards at the

    door, and two fetters, and a biting neck-shackle,

  20. and climbing a crag on an ostrich,

    an old, sore-backed beast bucking in a pack-saddle,

  21. fetching no price at sale and carrying no

    second rider, nor will anyone give even a palm-heart for it,

  22. or than vultures together around the dead,

    eating flesh from freshly killed prey.

Sol 6.1