Sol 6

  1. Toward glory, hurry, my she-camels, and press on.

    And, my ambition, rise toward generosity and settle there.

  2. There is no glory until I leave the camels plunging onward,

    carrying us, while swift horses champ at their bits.

  3. Upon them rides each young warrior, stripped for action,

    more resolute against injustice than an unsheathed sword.

  4. He drives sleep from an eye that aspires

    to traits flashing with honor and lordship.

  5. He has grown used to drinking no water muddied with refuse;

    a person's soul accepts only what it has grown used to.

  6. So he bent them like bows,

    to cross the deserts, ridge after ridge.

  7. He spends the darkness between restless sleep,

    the absence of one he loves, and scattered tears.

  8. He nurses within his breast a longing for heights of honor

    and bares the reach of a splendid, proud man.

  9. I rejected love in Karkh and dalliance with beauties,

    and turned away from fair, secluded women.

  10. And clear wine, like a rooster's eye, poured for me

    by a woman graceful as a swaying bough.

  11. It blushed in the cup after being mixed,

    as though blended with water from a rosy cheek.

  12. I drank it unmixed; its fragrance betrayed it,

    yet I could not dispense with a graceful beloved's saliva.

  13. The rest of the night was only as though

    traces of kohl lay upon the horizons' eyes.

  14. I remembered you, Ẓamyāʾ, with fire in my breast;

    but for you, that fire would never have kindled.

  15. And when a pang of longing pierces my heart,

    I hide my grief beneath endurance.

  16. I left those I left only to seek a prize

    that would delight my companions and confound my enviers,

  17. and turn pale a two-faced man without illness;

    he comes and goes as a base man does.

  18. His face bears witness to sheer baseness;

    whenever sight calls it to testify, it testifies.

  19. And an ill-omened gray beard, whose hair God caused to grow

    on the cheeks of a vile, foolish wretch.

  20. I make my merit known to him, and he knows that

    I am the sun, plain even to an inflamed eye.

  21. Those are my stories, and these are my poems;

    they spread my renown wherever people gather.

  22. They tear at the reputations of the base as though

    they struck them with an Indian-forged sword.

  23. The people go about bearing their venomous outpourings;

    their poison lays its targets low in lasting disgrace.

  24. Riders carry them east and west;

    one reciter chants them, another sings.

  25. For your sake, notables of Baghdad, I left a home

    upon which misfortunes fall and encroach.

  26. Why should I stay among you with a thirsty heart,

    when I am neither sluggish nor bound?

  27. I have a proud spirit, if only you knew me,

    yet among you I bear the humiliation of a shackled captive.

  28. You expect gratitude when you pardon someone who committed no offense;

    may the hand of your deceiver, bound by another hand, perish.

  29. You wronged God's servants when you raised

    the vilest of men, the wicked and the worthless.

  30. After what you have done, spacious Basra

    is nothing but ruins at Barqat Thahmad.

  31. Above its leaders you raised low men

    whose proper seat lies at the very bottom of disgrace.

  32. You acted as you wished, without the deeds of a just man,

    and spoke without the judgment of a guide.

  33. Suppose you did not fear these acts as sins;

    why did you not fear the reproach of a critic?

  34. I offered you counsel that you well knew,

    but for the resentment lurking within your souls.

  35. So I broke camp, as one should leave a land like yours

    when life there is no pleasure and its water tastes bitter.

  36. I said to my she-camel: resolve has carried you into exile;

    after today, beware of acting like a Baghdadi.

  37. I led her to the Milky Way's river and the heights of honor;

    she seemed to tell me: travel near, and travel far.

  38. After Fahd and Bandar, I seek no one

    in spacious Basra except Muhammad,

  39. a noble son of the noble al-Zuhayr, through whom

    I can match a gathering of generous men with one man.

  40. Whoever seeks the shelter of his house

    lives, by his favor, a life untroubled.

  41. O thirsty one, here is a stream

    of generosity: drink or depart from it as you please.

  42. His pillar of glory is high; his bounty is sought like rain;

    he is master of a pure, plentiful spring.

  43. Only a noble mother could have borne him,

    and he comes from a splendid, honored people.

  44. Though the generous have bestowed favors,

    no one else among men has been my benefactor like him.

  45. He gives kindness to earn praise and acclaim;

    whoever seeks praiseworthy deeds is praised.

  46. When I receive an abundant gift from him today,

    I expect gifts like it from him tomorrow.

  47. He follows the path of his illustrious forebears;

    he takes his blessed, shining fathers as his model.

  48. He is his whole people: they inherit noble deeds from a father

    and an ancient grandfather, lord after lord.

  49. A proud spirit reigns among them;

    thus they stood among the stars, between Eagle and Farqad.

  50. An ardor stirs them on the day of giving,

    as though they drank a cup of red wine from Ṣarkhad.

  51. The ringing music of swords and spears delights them

    on battle day, unlike what Umm Maʿbad sees.

  52. When they threaten tyrants with force, they inspire fear;

    when they do good, they do so without a prior promise.

  53. They are generous: ask their hands for a downpour,

    and they pour forth a rain of silver and gold.

  54. To anyone recounting the tales of your bounty, people say:

    Repeat them; prepare again to tell of the generous, and come back for more.

  55. Remembering them is sweeter than fresh water

    to the burning liver of a parched wanderer.

  56. May rain water and greet them with its showers;

    may the flashing, thundering clouds pour upon them.

  57. How many a generous man of long-standing honor have they left among their praisers,

    striving, himself celebrated, to celebrate them.

  58. When he resolves, the doubter's hesitation never turns him

    from his ventures toward glory.

  59. His judgment sees what no other eye sees;

    good judgment can guide the lost to the path.

  60. And whenever one wears the inherited mantle of fatherhood,

    as it ages, his spirit says: Come, renew it.

  61. They built their lofty rank with swords,

    and it stood like a firmly rooted mountain.

  62. How many of the costliest, most precious diamonds they gave away,

    desiring only an undying name.

  63. Now, after them, this refined son of Uthman

    builds upon that well-founded edifice.

  64. May his dignity remain protected, and may he never aim

    at a target except with an arrow that flies true.

Sol 6