They have not made soft or weak the stock of our sturdy spear;
     They have not abased our hearts to doing of deeds of shame. 
     We offer to bear their weight, a handful of noble souls: 
     Though laden beyond all weight of man, they uplift the load. 
     So shield we with Patience fair our souls from the stroke of Shame;
     Our honors are whole and sound, though others be lean enow.

          ABU SAKHR

On a lost love.  From the ‘Hamasah’:  Translation of C.J.  Lyall

By him who brings weeping and laughter
who deals Death and Life as He wills—­
she left me to envy the wild deer
that graze twain and twain without fear! 
Oh, love of her, heighten my heart’s pain,
and strengthen the pang every night;
oh, comfort that days bring, forgetting
—­the last of all days be thy tryst! 
I marveled how swiftly the time sped
between us, the moment we met;
but when that brief moment was ended
how wearily dragged he his feet!

AN ADDRESS TO THE BELOVED

By Abu l-’Ata of Sind.  From the ‘Hamasah’:  Translation of C.J.  Lyall

Of thee did I dream, while spears between us were quivering—­ and sooth, of our blood full deep had drunken the tawny shafts!  I know not—­by Heaven I swear, and here is the word I say!—­ this pang, is it love-sickness, or wrought by a spell from thee?  If it be a spell, then grant me grace of thy love-longing—­ if other the sickness be, then none is the guilt of thine!

          A FORAY

By Ja’far ibn ’Ulbah.  From the ‘Hamasah’:  Translation of C.J.  Lyall

     That even when, under Sabhal’s twin peaks, upon us drave
     the horsemen, troop upon troop, and the foeman pressed us sore—­
     They said to us, “Two things lie before you; now must ye choose
     the points of the spears couched at ye; or if ye will not, chains!”
     We answered them, “Yea this thing may fall to you after the fight,
     when men shall be left on ground, and none shall arise again;
     But we know not, if we quail before the assault of Death,
     how much may be left of life—­the goal is too dim to see.” 
     We rode to the strait of battle; there cleared us a space, around
     the white swords in our right hands which the smiths had furbished
          fair. 
     On them fell the edge of my blade, on that day of Sabhal date;
     And mine was the share thereof, wherever my fingers closed.

          FATALITY

By Katari, ibn al-Fuja’ah, ibn Ma’zin.  From the ‘Hamasah’:  Translation of C.J.  Lyall.

     I said to her, when she fled in amaze and breathless
       before the array of battle, “Why dost thou tremble? 
     Yea, if but a day of Life thou shouldst beg with weeping,
       beyond what thy Doom appoints, thou wouldst not gain it! 
     Be still, then; and