Sol 6.1

  1. Death enfolded you, and fate cast you down.

    And you departed with no expected appointment.

  2. And you journeyed with loneliness for provisions,

    with no return after this journey.

  3. And you reached the end of all who depart,

    though their paths and life stories are many.

  4. And in a moment of time's turning,

    he who rose and won renown fell and vanished.

  5. And he who once filled the eyes became,

    among his people, a trace or a tale.

  6. Did death then offer up its means,

    so you chose the nearest—the short way?

  7. And after parting, are you leaving

    some wish here, or have you fulfilled your wish?

  8. And am I to remain behind my companions,

    escorting their companies and bands to the grave?

  9. And each day the homeland is shaken

    by its loss of a lion or a moon.

  10. So whoever vanished from my side or went afar

    will be followed by whoever drew near or was present.

  11. They departed; their statues surround me,

    telling me of them, and their portraits too.

  12. O Abd al-Hamid! No answer comes from

    one buried in pits after dwelling in palaces.

  13. For you, tears have flowed from my blood,

    and in them are admonitions, and in them lessons.

  14. You grew angry for the freedom of writers,

    and no one can patiently endure wrath.

  15. Indeed, for a free man, the weight of iron

    is lighter than his distress and vexation.

  16. Indeed, the clash of forces in life—

    greater than it is the clash of ideas.

  17. And the unbowed man's attachment to his opinion

    is like the rich man's attachment to what he has saved.

  18. And a man's argument for a doctrine

    is but his armament in a conflict.

  19. And the virtuous victor is none but he

    who stood firm in his pledge and persevered.

  20. A comrade's breast received you as you leaned;

    had it been of stone, it would have split.

  21. And your silence amid the uproar sufficed

    in place of speech, improvised and original.

  22. Had the martyr's words descended

    upon a raging mountain, it would have grown still.

  23. Had Time, for what befell,

    a tongue and a heart, it would have apologized to you.

  24. And the wounded one's tears may wash the wound,

    but a torrent of rain cannot wash the wound.

  25. It pains the Arabs today that

    the forum and the congress are bereft of you.

  26. And you are among their closest kin,

    as though you were of Hashim or Mudar.

  27. Their gray-haired and their young were touched

    by your calamity, as were their nomads and townspeople.

  28. Your father was father to the earlier loyal friends,

    and you are brother to the later loyal friends.

  29. Both great men—each a gallant elder in

    his tribe, and a most righteous leader.

  30. And in the hearts of you both I had

    a place of favor, filling the eye.

  31. True bonds that never weakened

    under adversity's assaults and changing fortune's course.

  32. I remembered you among those gathered to remember,

    and sorrow's night is not a night of convivial talk.

  33. And in you I eulogized the dearest of the nobles,

    and for your loss consoled the most honored families.

  34. I am weary of life, in which I have met

    nothing but its bitterness and gloom.

  35. And I was content with its thorns

    when its blossoms and fruit eluded me.

  36. And what was heavy for me to bear in youth—

    can I bear it in old age?

  37. When a man is assailed by what he cannot bear,

    then his surrender and caution are alike.

  38. And it is enough, amid my ordeal, that I

    have distinguished the upright from the wicked.

  39. And this is the Resurrection in its terror—

    so how may we be saved, and where can we flee?

  40. And will war lay down its burdens,

    and the radiant morning erase the darkness,

  41. and those who fought it and fell gain

    mercy from those who fought it and triumphed,

  42. and humankind welcome the new world

    in peace, for the good of humankind?

Sol 6.1