Sol 6.1

  1. I was told that Ziyad kept insulting me,

    and words and deeds are recorded with God.

  2. I had met Ziyad and then said to him—

    and before that came what the messengers had hurried to convey—

  3. How long will you rob me, in every gathering,

    of my honor, when you can change course whenever you wish,

  4. and make God your guarantor for amends, and acknowledge

    that I have been wronged, seeking pardon and accepting blame?

  5. Then you turned away, and my soul would not reassure me;

    and forgetfulness and haste betray a solemn pledge.

  6. Every man will one day return to his own nature,

    in every circumstance by which a man is tested.

  7. Even if he holds back from it, without forsaking it,

    then, before long, he moves back to it alone.

  8. When he wishes to abandon it, it holds him back,

    as a long tether holds back the leg of one tied fast.

Sol 6.1