Sol 5.6

  1. The traces and ruins of Mayya’s dwelling have been effaced;

    and our condition changed when its inhabitants departed.

  2. How often I question the dwelling, whose traces have grown worn—

    but can questioning the vestiges of the dwelling avail me?

  3. I stood there, paying it its due in sorrow,

    while my longing and anguish for it never cease.

  4. Within my soul is an ache for those abodes,

    stirred in me morning and evening.

  5. How many a sigh after sigh have they stirred in me,

    kindling their fires in the heart’s hidden depths.

  6. I remember the lady of Dhāt al-Ḍāl—love had its excuse there;

    ah, what al-Ḍāl gathered for chaste, ʿUdhri love!

  7. My soul be ransom for the one whose nearness was my life,

    and who kills me by desertion—for desertion is deadly.

  8. In that beloved I behold the full moon amid the darkness of night,

    borne with a swaying gait by a supple, willow-like form.

  9. Our loved ones, the grave events and terrors of time

    have come between me and you.

  10. Though you have vanished from my sight and been veiled from me,

    your image has never vanished from my heart.

  11. It gives me no joy to reside in a town

    while my anxious thought roams after you through the deserts.

  12. I am blamed for loving you and bearing love’s abasement;

    the impassioned always have their censurers, and love its reproachers.

  13. May God water those dwellings and their people,

    and may the clouds trail their skirts across them—

  14. and water a bygone age in which youth and its sweetness flourished,

    before a stealthy assailant, hoary age, destroyed it.

  15. I shall ride them through the barren wilderness as my mount—

    ships of the land, whose sea-depths are the shimmering mirage.

  16. I shall not remain settled in any dwelling while I live,

    when my life is misery, affliction, and fetters.

  17. Through every mountain pass my resolve accompanies me,

    along with a white Indian blade and a dark, supple spear.

  18. Greed has never gained a rein over me

    by which its master could humiliate me when oppression comes.

  19. Poverty has not distressed me, nor riches delighted me:

    wealth and want have become equal in my eyes.

  20. I have never approached anything that would disgrace me,

    even if my limbs were to be severed for refusing it.

  21. Praise be to God, I have suffered no need

    that could compromise a noble man of towering glory.

  22. I care nothing—ancestral honor is my creed—

    if ignorant men turn away from me despite knowing the truth.

  23. They raced me in glory, but fell short;

    they challenged me in proud refusal, but could not reach my height.

  24. In ʿAlī, exalted in rank, I have no need of another

    whenever the words and deeds of noble men are reckoned—

  25. one of that house, the sons of prophecy and sublimity,

    whose distinctive mark is glimpsed in every flash of glory.

  26. Ask glory about them, in summary and in detail;

    yet the summary itself makes all detail needless.

  27. When they are described by knowledge, forbearance, and piety,

    they are landmarks in knowledge and mountains in forbearance.

  28. Their generosity passes judgment upon their wealth,

    and this excellence was attained only through what they achieved.

  29. Their resolves range east and west, while their might

    is shackles and fetters upon the necks of men.

  30. To you, Abū Salmān, our riding beasts hasten,

    continually alighting and departing on the way to your abode.

  31. Those who come thirsting to you depart from your presence

    laden with favors and gratitude.

  32. When we praise you, it is only because

    every fabric of your praise already has its loom.

  33. My ailing hope grows sound through your eminence,

    and your lofty name has indeed made the omen come true.

  34. A cheerful face from you announces blessings,

    with kindness and gracious welcome for whoever hopes in you.

  35. You swiftly relieve whoever calls upon you in distress;

    the rain itself is shamed by the bounty of your right hand.

  36. The generosity of your favor has never ceased to bless me

    with a grace that delights my soul and sets my mind at ease.

  37. When seekers ask your hand to water even the date-stones,

    a pouring cloud of generous hands from you waters them.

  38. In you, Abū Salmān, is compassion for humankind

    through which purposes are gained and hopes fulfilled.

  39. Virtue declares of you that you are its rightful master,

    and valor testifies that you are a lion.

  40. The dawn of truth has broken forth, manifest in sincerity;

    after today, no schemer can prevail through falsehood.

  41. As for a former kindness of yours to me—

    through it I bear a debt of gratitude, grace, and munificence.

  42. Your illustrious, blessed forefathers indeed

    were rainclouds when they gave and lions when they charged.

  43. The envious have lied in what they fabricated about me;

    by God, I never said what they claim I said.

  44. I implore God to preserve you from heeding a liar’s words

    and letting such gossip and hearsay turn you away from me.

  45. Have I not spent my entire life praising you,

    with splendid panegyrics composed in your honor?

  46. For thirty years I have served you through my praise,

    while your rain pours freely and your generosity flows.

  47. Through you I vie proudly with lords in east and west,

    sweeping along in robes of bliss and strutting proudly.

  48. Through you I attain hopes though they are distant,

    and open doors upon which locks are fastened.

  49. I faithfully honor people’s claims upon my gratitude,

    and there is no doubt about the sincerity of my affection.

  50. You are the one hoped in among all humankind,

    and your blessings are proverbial among the people.

  51. Whenever poems approach you bearing their praise,

    rank and wealth may be hoped for through them.

  52. Many an ode is recited and sweet is its song;

    though unadorned, how richly it adorns herself through praising you!

Sol 5.6