1. Is it over statue-like beauties who made eyes weep blood

    that you have renewed reproach, bringing back my madness?

  2. They ruled the hearts with their glances, and

    parting was made judge over them and held sway.

  3. On the morning when the curtains withheld them, we were not

    sated with embraces and kisses from them.

  4. And among them were suns crowned with darkness,

    and branches that had borne red berries.

  5. No sooner did their pale camels head for al-Aqiq at forenoon

    than, through them, we met death close at hand.

  6. َ

    And many an archer struck my heart with a

    glance on the morning of parting, when he shot.

  7. Long did his closeness endure, and he would

    rain on me steady showers of his wine.

  8. When the night grew dark, he was my moon,

    and when dawn appeared, he was my idol.

  9. ُ

    I said, as night lowered its banner,

    to the caravan, as dawn raised its own:

  10. Before long our watering place will again be

    sweet, and our worries will become aspirations.

  11. May we never lack the prince's radiant face, for

    by the bounty of his hand he has abolished want.

  12. The Imam's sword, through whom we charge against

    Time, when Time attacks or runs wild.

  13. And Nasir al-Dawla, champion of the state that embraced

    with justice the Arabs and non-Arabs of mankind.

  14. Knowledge reached perfection in him, and mature were

    his judgments before he reached puberty.

  15. He seeks the sword's aid in crises, when

    others go seeking the aid of the pen.

  16. A dawn of justice, he never turned toward a land

    without clearing it of oppression and darkness.

  17. How many a dreaded place Hasan advanced upon

    with the sword, until he made it a sanctuary!

  18. Amid a mighty host that choked the passes,

    while the earth groaned in pain beneath its tread.

  19. His banners speak, and no weariness

    appears in their speech, nor any boredom.

  20. They display defiance toward the east wind,

    so whenever the east wind blows, the two quarrel.

  21. When he advances with standards fluttering,

    the troops of death become servants to his troops.

  22. As though his coats of mail upon the land were

    a sea of iron, surging and crashing.

  23. As though thunder beneath it raised a din

    that rose, and lightning above it flared.

  24. Then a raid's glad face delighted us, as it filled

    the land's lowlands and hills with horses.

  25. And his dust cloud blocked the sky's horizon,

    so it seemed to form a sky beneath the sky.

  26. Within it you rose over Iraq: how much

    wealth you preserved, and how much blood you spared!

  27. I said, when guidance shone forth and rose high,

    and the pillar of error crumbled and collapsed:

  28. No planter ever plants evil

    without harvesting regret from its branches.

  29. Toward you, bands urged their mounts onward,

    wading through the sea of darkness as it swelled.

  30. When they had passed the faded traces of the

    deserts, they made their swift-striding camels kneel.

  31. They saw the gardens of bounty richly embroidered,

    so in their courtyard they embroidered words.

Sol 6.1