Sol 6.1

  1. I yearn for the abode of the Caliphate whenever

    a writer and an orator make mention of it.

  2. And a burning anguish in me has baffled the physician; can one

    stricken by separation have any healer but reunion?

  3. And they said, “Your appointed time is in summer; seek

    an intercessor, for summer is close at hand for you.”

  4. And I am indeed in summer, whose noonday heat is agonizing,

    and sweet water has ebbed, and what was fresh has dried.

  5. And these swift ships are sorrow-laden, bound for

    Faruq, yet I have no place aboard the ships.

  6. Does every nomad and townsman journey there,

    while a noble man, wakeful of heart, is held bound?

  7. And minds suffer because of hearts when

    nights fall, and hearts suffer because of minds.

  8. Indeed, I lament a land where I lived as though I were

    a stranger, for time has so often turned its back on me.

  9. I reproach her at times, and forgive her offense

    against me when a reckoner tallies the offenses.

  10. And how many stumbles leave no hope of rising afterward,

    and how many stumbles are followed by a leap!

  11. If the Turks face wars from their foes,

    then I face wars born of my loyalty to friends.

  12. And if they slew the Bulgarians and, after them, the Greeks,

    then jealousy and a beloved have indeed slain me.

Sol 6.1