1. He struck with the sword of his gaze, and charged—

    as though I had come to ask him for union.

  2. He wronged the love-struck one by shunning him

    and made the lover’s tears pour down in torrents.

  3. However much I abase myself before him,

    he grows prouder, and coy disdain follows.

  4. In countenance he rivaled the full moon,

    and his figure matched the bough in graceful poise.

  5. His beauty called the ardent longing in him to prayer,

    and upon his cheek we beheld its Bilal.

  6. In my heart, the fire of a cheek has blazed,

    kindling a conflagration within my breast.

  7. And in my body lies sickness from a gazelle’s eyes;

    from them the incurable malady returned to me.

  8. Never shall I forget a tryst at Dhāt al-Rimth—

    it passed, yet we thought it but a dream—

  9. a time when we feared no slanderer

    and heard no reproacher speak.

  10. How often a guileless young gazelle visited me

    and let me sip pure water in my thirst.

  11. I had always known his night to be brief;

    but when the one I love departed, it grew long.

  12. How can the censor hope that I shall forget,

    when my heart’s core has melted away, slipping from me?

  13. Can any censor guide me away from longing,

    when he has only led me further astray?

  14. Do not ask—may you be spared all ill—about tears

    that flow whenever the lightning of al-Ḥayf gleams.

  15. The gazelles dwelling in that campsite made my blood lawful,

    though before them it had not been lawful to shed.

  16. Had you seen my heart when they departed,

    you would have seen patience following the beauties away.

  17. Ah, by God, what they have done to my heart—

    eyelids containing nothing but arrowheads!

  18. By the Lord who clothed the beloved ones in beauty,

    my passion for them clothed me in wasting sickness.

  19. In love and youthful ardor, I

    like Muhammad have attained perfection:

  20. a young man who is an ocean of learning and generosity,

    whose waters have ever been sweet and pure.

  21. His resolve rivals the lofty, steadfast mountains,

    and his character resembles the north wind’s gentle breath.

  22. By nature he delights in showing generosity,

    and sets no store by wealth when giving it away.

  23. The dearest person in the world to him

    is a young man who makes his need known to receive his bounty.

  24. At every moment he loves noble deeds,

    and we shall never find him weary of them.

  25. His largesse brought the needy close to him,

    while upon his enemies it was a scourge.

  26. God clothed him with a crown of glory

    and robed him in awe and majesty.

  27. Were God’s mountains to vanish from the earth,

    his dignity upon it would stand as mountains.

  28. Dewy-handed, his palm is a rain cloud;

    were it to touch pebbles, they would melt and flow.

  29. His right hand has never withheld anything from him,

    nor has he known promises and delay.

  30. A high-souled man: were he to seek to reach the horizon,

    one span of his resolve would attain it.

  31. His cheerful face heralds clouds of generosity,

    and the smiles of generous men are its beauty marks.

  32. Through him we attained our hardest hopes,

    and in his court we never knew the impossible.

  33. A master of learning—rather, a swelling sea—

    the most exalted of men in worldly bounty.

  34. From him appeared a radiant countenance, and there was light;

    so he became a good omen to all who cherish hopes.

  35. One day he stretched out his right hand in munificence

    and overwhelmed us with gifts and gracious closeness.

  36. God endowed him with beauty of character;

    such is the gift of the Creator, exalted is He—

  37. virtues keen as sharpened swords,

    finely polished by his excellences.

  38. If we say there is beauty in this world,

    we mean your gracious character and virtues.

  39. Can his panegyrists ever number his perfections?

    Who has ever counted the sands of the earth?

  40. The eulogists do not exaggerate in praising you,

    however fully they extol you, then surpass all bounds.

  41. I seek refuge in his might from every calamity,

    for he has become a bridle restraining the world,

  42. and a resolve that utterly subdues enemies

    even without battle being joined by him.

  43. Were the tall, brown lances to vie with him

    in reaching the goal, he would outstrip them.

  44. He has perfected every science and every glory,

    and adorned all honors and perfections.

  45. He is nothing less than a full moon among the heights of honor;

    no wonder, then, that he attained perfection.

  46. Were you to witness his lucid exposition,

    you would deem its eloquence lawful magic.

  47. Through it God guides creation to righteousness,

    and through it God dispels error.

  48. He left the proud no glory to claim,

    and left no eloquent speaker anything to say.

  49. The hopes of any man with an aim have never failed

    who made you the destination of his quests.

  50. Accept it, my lord: from these verses, a poem,

    and make your pleasure in it my reward.

Sol 5.6