Sol 6.1

  1. I was there on Wednesday evening,

    and the family was gathered together;

  2. we recalled a dead man claimed by

    the ravages of the terrifying epidemic.

  3. So at times we showed, out of

    despair, the deepest anguish;

  4. and at times we hoped for deliverance

    through the most effective medicine.

  5. And everyone relied

    on piety and devoutness.

  6. They deemed the best safeguard

    to be disinfecting every place.

  7. Then we parted, and I slept

    peacefully in my bed.

  8. Then a cry startled me,

    nearly deafening my ear:

  9. “Aziz has indeed fallen

    from a towering height!”

  10. So I sprang up as if stung; neither

    my patience nor my reason was with me.

  11. I see the women weeping,

    in the deepest panic;

  12. they surge about the house like a wave

    with a brimming swell.

  13. So, for the boy, it all grew cramped—

    every wide-open space.

  14. He weeps from the uproar and

    the severe, painful bruising.

  15. Then I called him, and he did not

    complain of pain or plead;

  16. and he sprang up, running and laughing,

    as though he had not fallen.

  17. So the people marveled at him

    and at his fully mustered strength.

  18. The calamity left nothing but

    its terrifying memory,

  19. and a lesson, the like of which

    had not convinced us that year.

  20. So, Aziz, grow used to facing

    terror; go forth and enjoy yourself.

  21. And from the trials of adversity

    learn and benefit.

  22. Indeed, the one who saved the boy

    from the peril of that fall

  23. has revived and sustained in life

    my hope and my aspiration.

Sol 6.1