Muntakhab al-tawarikh 30.4.5

30.4.5

My heart, because of affliction, was as hard as the hilt of a sword From weakness my body was become wood like the handle of a club. Not a breath remained in my windpipe by reason of thirst, My belly was like a drum from the duration of my hunger: My body was stripped naked like a tree in autumn, And like a rose torn into a thousand shreds by the thorns. For sorrow the pupil of my eyes poured forth drops Like the (scattered pearls) of a necklace broken from the neck of a bride. A Qirnas driving me on in front followed along the way 153 seated on a horse, like a leopard on a hill range. Foetor ab isto ore teterrimus axillae odori similis, Capilli oris ejus pubi similes usque ad mentum delapsi. If I lagged behind a step or two through fatigue He would draw at one time his falchion at another his javelin. I kept heaving deep sighs and saying to myself: Alas! I shall never be able to escape from this calamity! A thousand thanks to God Almighty who liberated me With my heart free from arrow wounds and my body unhurt by the sword. When he desired to make my body a brick for the grave, Water and clay built up for me anew my palace of years. But what good to me was my escape from that rope If snapped like the bond between the Muhajir and Ansar?