1. What can I say? No blame can fall upon fate,

    Now that I have lost you as the eye loses sight.

  2. Separation scattered a company that once united us;

    Now the eye unites only tears and sleeplessness.

  3. Between me and visiting you—as my condition bears witness—

    Lies passage to fair ones beneath the shade of brown spears,

  4. And eager lions whose ʿAwaj-bred steeds charge headlong,

    Leaving no human soul alive, sparing none.

  5. They blocked the mountain passes with encircling Indian blades,

    Guarding with sword-edges the eyes of fair, coy beauties.

  6. They led their horses openly to death’s watering place,

    Then brought them forth, with life itself at stake in their return;

  7. And there is a boundless waste whose far-flung reaches

    Join a towering peak, girdled by a belt of cloud.

  8. It barred the way. Will no phantom visit and tell me

    Of the one I love, bringing the news I long to hear?

  9. How can I find solace when my soul is divided—

    One part with me, the rest with my ʿAmr?

  10. A brother who sought the heights of glory in his youth and emerged

    Like water no hand of turbidity had ever troubled.

  11. He attained all the honor and generosity he wished;

    His excellence enticed gray hairs to him at life’s first bloom.

  12. A largesse that cleaves the cloud’s bosom enfolds him,

    And a nature like fragrance breathed by time at dawn;

  13. And chastity from which youth gained no desire—

    What claim have youth and desire upon Abū Ḥafṣ?

  14. The pen praises him through what his fingertips have written;

    The soul and parchment, too, praise the work left there.

  15. This adorned that, and that adorned the page of this, just as

    The cloud’s hand adorns the meadow’s face with flowers.

  16. The elders placed the reins of forbearance in his hand,

    For forbearance is not confined to advanced age.

  17. My longing for you, Abū Ḥafṣ, is renewed

    Whenever your memory is renewed at dusk and dawn.

  18. I lament the nights’ great length since we parted,

    Though beside you I used to lament how short they were.

  19. As for my heart, yearning has flown away with it

    To you; but the torment of separation has not flown.

  20. How much delight I found there in seeing you—

    Had sudden travel not clouded its purity!

  21. How often we went out at dawn and returned at evening, enraptured,

    From al-Ṣakhratayn to al-Ṣafṣāf and then the river.

  22. And at al-Buṣayla—may rain be generous to its grounds—

    Are familiar haunts whose covenant remains in my memory.

  23. And Zarwa, by the pool of al-Jawr, whose broad lowlands

    Clothed themselves for us in richly embroidered robes.

  24. Its flowers had encircled it, resembling

    Blossoms woven around a moon.

  25. Birds sang out from every direction,

    As though listening attentively to ensembles playing upon strings.

  26. They listened and gazed, never ceasing from an ecstasy

    That entered the soul through hearing and through sight.

  27. And one night we spent at the Ribāṭ of al-Tūnisī,

    Radiant, with splendors upon splendors,

  28. With each man wrapped in the worn rags of his night,

    His heart moving back and forth between understanding and reflection.

  29. He recited, his intention made pure for God,

    And beheld the light of those verses and suras.

  30. No creature was more prudent than he, armored

    In two coats of mail: hope of salvation and fear.

  31. And I had a humble vigil in that courtyard,

    Harvesting fruits of piety from the great tree of contemplation.

  32. Sleep was driven from me, and I was kept awake

    By the refrain of one weeping there, or the voice of one pleading pardon.

  33. Alas for the companies among whom I found such fellowship!

    Their qualities stand confirmed at the close of al-Zumar.

  34. Fires of grief flare within their ribs,

    Casting sparks from tears of longing.

  35. Life holds no good for me after separation from them,

    And the garden can dispense with rain because of me.

  36. Whenever I remember them, my heart never lacks

    A spear-thrust or the prick of needles.

  37. And among them, Abū ʿAlī left the fairest mark upon my heart,

    However far I range in following every trace.

  38. I have spoken at length in describing his virtues,

    Yet he deserves words that are not brief.

  39. I did not endure his loss because I welcomed our parting,

    But through acceptance of God’s decree and destiny.

Sol 6.1