113 – Abu al-Hasan al-Shaybani recited to me these lines composed by ‘Isa al-Habati:

Life has grown dearer to me for love of my daughters—
those fragile little ones;
I dread that, once I am gone, they might taste misery
and be forced to drink turbid water after what was clear;
Should they go unclothed while servant-girls are arrayed in finery,
the eye would turn away from such lean honor;
Had it not been for this, I would have loosed my colt to roam—
yet with the All-Merciful there is sufficiency for the weak.