1. The summits of al-Haba'il—hills and playgrounds—

    have not lacked passion or flowing tears.

  2. They grew desolate, save for a lovelorn man's vigil,

    and bare of ornaments, save for the jewels of clouds.

  3. I once lived life with my desires fulfilled,

    in their amplest shade, with a carefree companion,

  4. in days when separation's judgment was not unjust

    there, nor time's arrow true to its mark.

  5. Often their lean lions stood

    between the lover and a herd of young gazelles.

  6. Their gazelles pursued him with cutting blades

    of their glances, and their guardians with cutting blades.

  7. When their encampment was an abode of joy, and their shade

    spacious through them, its flank unassailable:

  8. fluttering banners and white-blazed neighing steeds,

    full moons of assemblies and the din of battalions,

  9. and rare beauties, except that they

    assail hearts with strange torments of longing.

  10. We plundered the roses of their cheeks, but

    they let those roses plunder the plunderer's reason.

  11. If you reproach me, then neither satisfaction

    nor appeasement is mine to offer the first reproacher.

  12. I was told that fools had sprung

    foolishly at me, alongside assailing time.

  13. Their scorpions crept toward me—though never

    would my scorpions creep in hypocrisy's night—

  14. from one who denies my merit over him, and one who claims

    my poetry; I have never heard of a mute orator.

  15. Far from it! An ignoramus's ignorance cannot lower

    veils over the piercing star of knowledge.

  16. And if an enemy rouses hatred that has always

    lain hidden in the depths of his entrails and breastbones,

  17. let him prepare for a thrust from a spearman

    fully armed, and a blow from a striker.

  18. My crime in my enemies' eyes is the excellence of my deeds;

    and excellence is a crime I do not repent of.

  19. God favored me with Wahb over them,

    and singled me out with gifts of his affection:

  20. a king who listens to the first caller for help,

    and whose brimming buckets of bounty reach the first petitioner.

  21. Joyful, he aspires to the heights; thus his ancestral wealth

    heeds the call of one who hopes or one who fears.

  22. Like rain, he meets petitioners with a downpour,

    torrential, and meets the envious with a hail of stones.

  23. I studded the necklace of my praises with his virtues,

    as though I had studded it with stars.

  24. When his right hand unsheathes a slender blade among his swords,

    it kindles war's blaze, though no warrior.

  25. How noble is your sword: silent on foot

    amid calamities, and eloquent when mounted!

  26. The brave man's limbs tremble with fear

    whenever it trembles between knuckles and finger joints.

  27. Never have I seen another keen blade whose sheath

    is the belly of a budding-breasted maiden with an adorned neck.

  28. She was not without the tint of tresses, though she became

    close-shorn, possessing no tresses.

  29. And it was as though the dawns of her adornment rose

    from the jewelry of gardens, above sunsets.

  30. Never has the shining dawn battled darkness

    but darkness at peace has shown us dawn.

  31. I said, when I beheld the excellence of his expression

    and his eloquence: "The writer's equipment is complete."

  32. How splendid you are, O son of Harun, who

    brought petitioners close to generosity once far removed!

  33. You excelled in traits whose marks shine

    on glory's shoulders or upon its withers,

  34. and in virtues with which my praises have traveled

    through the earth like north winds and led steeds.

  35. They made the face of noble deeds bloom; so often

    it had unveiled to us a noble, pallid face.

  36. Why do I see that your body's ailments have left

    the heart of noble deeds in unceasing torment?

  37. We visited the bounteous cloud in you, yet never had we visited

    before this the raincloud's unerring shower.

  38. We do not condemn the beginnings of misfortunes whose

    endings have brought praiseworthy outcomes.

  39. So rejoice in God's gift of health, for it

    is a gift to be repaid with gratitude that is owed.

  40. And long enjoy a poem that travels yet stays with you,

    one that has won the love of strangers and kin.

  41. It choked on the water of natural talent, until I imagined it

    choking, in its freshness, on melting hail.

  42. The noble man longs for its appearance when it is far away,

    with a lover's longing to meet beloved ones.

  43. And its listener says, whenever it is recited:

    "Are these necklaces of praise, or necklaces of stars?"

Sol 6.1