1. O son of Fahd—you are a moon at the full,

    and rain whose downpour is life to humankind.

  2. My resolve looked toward Iraq; then was unsheathed

    by my ambition, for departure, a sword of determination.

  3. So peace upon your presence, and upon the

    watering place, the shade, and the great benefactions.

  4. Yet I want from you a letter,

    a separate one, containing peerless speech:

  5. both prose, like the blossoms of the garden,

    laughing in response to the clouds' weeping,

  6. and verse whose lawful enchantment

    rises above every forbidden spell.

  7. Through it, every discerning man's hearing becomes

    intent on listening, while his heart smiles.

  8. In it is such evident solicitude as will

    make my due binding upon the magnanimous emir.

  9. So fulfill my due in it with an arm of thought;

    through it, you will keep my gratitude alive for all time.

Sol 6.1