طَعِمتُ حَلاَوَةَ الأَشيَاءِ طَرًّا

فَلاَ شَيءٌ أَلَذَّ مِنَ السُّكُوتِ

وَ خَيرُ مَجَالِسِ الدُّنيَا جَمِيعًا

مَجَالِسُ الدَّفَاتِرِ فِي البُيُوتِ

Many sweet things have I tasted far and wide,

but silence is the sweetest of these things I’ve tried

And to whichever of the world’s assemblies one devotes

Better still is the sober sitting at home with one’s notes.

—The poet-scholar of Yemen al-Amīr al-Ṣan‘ānī [d. 1182/1768]

Translation by Abu Zayd