Sol 6.1

  1. Turn the riding camels toward the uninhabited waste,

    and halt beside a grave that holds the apple of my eye.

  2. You will recognize its place by the one who lies within,

    and from it the fragrant one's scent will make it known to you.

  3. For how much piety and self-restraint it contains,

    and noble ancestry and unsullied honor!

  4. And convey peace to him from one whose burning grief

    has shattered him with a fracture no one can mend.

  5. Perhaps he will grant me reunion in sleep,

    keeping me company through his visiting apparition,

  6. so I may soothe my ailing heart with his phantom;

    perhaps I shall join him, and I am not faithless.

  7. Indeed, I feel shame before him, though he lies hidden

    in his burial niche, as though he were present.

  8. I honor his claims upon me and preserve his covenant

    with me; no one but he passes through my mind.

  9. Though his body may decay within his tomb,

    my love for him will not decay through all time.

  10. He spent his days with me in the noblest companionship;

    how I grieve for him, so devoted a companion!

  11. He was a rarity, and I expect no

    replacement for that rarity, so I elegized him in rare verses.

  12. Had I done justice to his affection,

    I would have died the day he died, and not remained behind,

  13. and hollowed out his tomb within my heart's membrane,

    and watered it continually with tears from my eye sockets.

  14. I find sweetness in my heart from his dwelling

    within it, and tend him with my inward eye.

  15. I would surely ask forgiveness for him and pardon

    for him from the generous, forgiving Lord.

  16. How fitting for one like me to be seen seeking

    a dark-eyed maiden with tresses and bracelets,

  17. secluded in a pavilion of pearls,

    reserved as a reward for the patient sufferer.

  18. Indeed, my arm is empty and I am alone; if I have

    traded for her, I shall be the trader who profits most.

  19. But if I am denied, and my lot-arrow fails to win her,

    then, by God's life, I am the greatest loser of all.

  20. It is not fitting for one who has passed sixty

    to be preoccupied with Juml, al-Rabab, and Ghadir.

  21. Rather, his concern is provision for his final return,

    for provisions are every traveler's most pressing concern.

  22. An old man's ultimate aim is nothing but piety,

    not to wander in lovesick passion for wild-ox calves.

  23. Graceful maidens instinctively recoil from him in aversion,

    and attachment to one who recoils is torment.

  24. Does a warrior meet his match in battle

    except with a blue-steeled spear or a keen, cleaving sword?

  25. And when an unarmed man plunges into a tight battle,

    he becomes the captive, not the captor.

  26. None desires a swelling breast and a languid glance

    except a carefree man in a languid age.

  27. God's Book suffices me; it is my delight,

    and my solace in loneliness is in my books.

  28. There I deflower virgins, who cleanse whoever

    deflowers them, with every pure meaning.

  29. And when I seek recreation, I read them,

    and roam through their lovely, flowering gardens.

  30. In them I see the path of guidance clearly,

    by which those who do not stray from it are saved.

  31. The time has come for me to awaken and mend my ways,

    if only I were one whose inward sight was sound.

  32. For how often I go about and transgress in confusion,

    wandering back and forth within it like a bewildered man!

  33. I see my youth departing in a troop

    from me, while my gray hair arrives in armies.

  34. Thus they have triumphed over me; and ever

    since olden times, the victor's lot-arrows have been raised high.

  35. Indeed, I have seen wonders wrought by time;

    I experienced them in my arrivals and departures.

  36. I found those claiming sincere brotherhood:

    even their sincerest greets you with courtesy as thin as Sabiri cloth.

  37. Yet sometimes a rare exception stands apart among them,

    and our principles allow no analogy based on a rare exception.

  38. And when a dwelling is harsh to me or weighs me down,

    I beat my wings away from it like a swooping eagle.

  39. So I traverse a land whose plains are like its rugged ground

    to me, its first stretch no different from its last.

  40. Indeed, I marvel at a believer whose mouth contains

    a clang like a bell in an unbeliever's church.

  41. He never murmurs softly, yet speaks on, and fails to see

    that the tongue is like a lion that crushes its prey.

  42. If I summoned speech, it would answer me

    as a captive answers his captor's call.

  43. But I saw that our Prophet had censured it

    in every babbler and loud-mouthed poet.

  44. So I kept silent except on piety; yet sometimes

    the seas of my poetic gift cast up jewels.

  45. They did not approve of lengthy oratory; rather, they favored

    keeping it short whenever they mounted pulpits.

  46. And when they deemed a stream of speech acceptable

    only for a servant reciting or remembering God,

  47. then ineptitude lies in excess, not in speech

    that bears a sorcerer's breath to discerning minds.

  48. Indeed, I tell some of those who reproach me

    for moderation in my affairs, and will not excuse me:

  49. When I saw that the earth's water had become

    murky, a bird's sip of it sufficed me.

  50. Had I accepted impurities in my drink,

    I would have gulped like a thirsty man in midday heat,

  51. and crossed the sea of livelihood in search of wealth,

    eager for it, and been the most skillful expert.

  52. But I exchanged my concern for wealth

    for contentment and dignity in outward bearing.

  53. For some wealth may harm its possessors,

    whereas poverty is no harm in God's sight.

  54. I have indeed obtained the food I need,

    and clothing beyond what covers me.

  55. By your life, I am honored among my neighbors,

    and esteemed and revered among my kin.

  56. Tomorrow we shall meet upon the racecourse,

    and the heavy will be distinguished from the light and lean.

  57. Oh, my shame if I am last there,

    hoping to catch up on a stumbling crossbred horse!

  58. Woe, utter woe to me, unless

    my Lord is my helper in those hardships!

  59. Indeed, I thank Him for His blessings,

    for He is faithful to His promise to the thankful.

  60. To Him I supplicate, turning back with sincere devotion,

    for He is the one I hope will meet my needs.

Sol 6.1