Sol 6.1

  1. O you whose virtues win you

    eminence, and who possess noble merits,

  2. and excellences—the envious is speechless

    before them, and the reckoner is exhausted;

  3. and you who keep apart from me, though among

    the noblest of those I am apart from:

  4. Each day a new mishap

    draws near, and a friend draws away.

  5. How grievous for me to find myself

    corresponding after our meeting!

  6. How can I find solace, when between us

    a calamity courts your departure?

  7. And shallow waters and gravelly riverbeds,

    and barren plains and open wastes,

  8. and landmarks and unknown lands,

    and non-Arabs and Arabs,

  9. and lions in human form,

    and bereft she-camels and thoroughbred mounts;

  10. and upon the camelbacks, like crescents,

    are rare beauties within the howdahs:

  11. figures of lawful enchantment,

    whose molds are hearts.

  12. And when they look, they

    hold sway over souls.

  13. So their arrows are glances,

    and their bows are eyebrows.

  14. Reins surround them,

    and spearheads and keen swords,

  15. and cavalcades—they and the dust

    are clouds and stars.

  16. They were given the dignity of proud refusal

    by lineages and ranks.

  17. So each of these men is either a plunderer,

    or a spear-thruster, or a striker.

  18. Death's watering-place lies open

    among them; another, not I, drinks.

  19. Whoever may be among those present with them

    on any day—I am absent.

  20. O you from whom I seek affection

    enduring, and who seeks it from me,

  21. trust me, though our homes lie far apart;

    for your claim upon me is binding.

  22. For you have been true in your affection to me,

    while others' affection is false.

  23. And you set a pattern of kindness from which

    loved ones and relatives strayed.

  24. I, despite separation's spite,

    remain steadfast in my affection for you.

  25. And I am indeed reminded of our old bonds

    by lightning flashes and clouds,

  26. and doves, for whom mourners stand

    atop the boughs,

  27. and north winds, enfolded within which

    are love's fragrance and gusts,

  28. and the breeze, flanked on either side

    by blossoms and rivulets.

  29. My description of the beauties was not meant

    as the reproacher imagines.

  30. But I remembered you as sweet,

    and so recalled them as choicest delights.

  31. Thus your nature seems, in tenderness,

    suited to love-poetry about them.

  32. As for time, in its turns

    against me there are wonders.

  33. It gives, then reclaims the gift;

    so it is giver and despoiler.

  34. So leave aside the gifts: a true

    assessment reveals them as plunder.

  35. And I have indeed given counsel, and counsel

    has those who accept it and those who turn away.

  36. So be patient in treating souls,

    for souls have their own ways.

  37. Time has grown earnest, while all of us,

    save a few, are at play.

  38. And how many worldly adornments I have lost,

    which I struggled for, and still struggle for!

  39. And how many have passed away with time—

    foods and drinks!

  40. No pleasure among them ever ran clear

    without a taint within it.

  41. And I knew myself full of desire

    for a time; now here I am, an ascetic.

  42. And one of the wonders is your absence,

    though the road to you is plain.

  43. But my diligence stays constant along

    it, while my good fortune departs.

  44. Through fortune, one raises up

    one day, while another sets down.

  45. Hence grammar's ʿAmr is the one

    struck, while Zayd is the striker.

  46. No—by Him at whose decree

    the croaking raven spoke—

  47. my distance from you is not my choice;

    it would not be, but for overpowering fate.

Sol 6.1