Sol 6.1

  1. Yes, this is the victory; no victory can match it.

    Its immediate outcome has brought glory, and so has its later outcome.

  2. In it, the gates of heaven opened upon

    a radiant man whose bounty is the key to the gate of gladness.

  3. He readied himself for war, with neither letters nor envoys,

    save the clustered spears whose points grow bloody.

  4. He made the frontier smile, though its smiling mouth,

    when it smiled in delight, was his sword-blades.

  5. He struck at polytheism until its flank was humbled,

    and its lofty withers and shoulder collapsed.

  6. A campaign: if one year leaves any of it remaining,

    the next comes to drive it toward the frontier's doom.

  7. On the shoulder of the king, Sayf al-Dawla, were firmly established

    the foundations of the faith, and its shoulders grew strong.

  8. His staffs are spears, however long they are;

    his thin tunics are like armor, however frail they are.

  9. Victorious in warfare, his keen swords were never denied

    what they hoped for, nor did his quivering spears fail.

  10. More piercing than inescapable fate is his blade,

    in reaching souls; and its bearer is more piercing still.

  11. He unsheathes his resolve against a tyrant he battles

    in defense of the faith's sanctity, or an aggressor he opposes.

  12. The lofty fortresses of Kharshana are his prescribed devotions

    when he campaigns, and its outskirts his voluntary ones.

  13. He is ever either cutting short his life of ease

    in obedience to God, or carrying on a march.

  14. A sea of his battalions visited the lake,

    its shores hiding the lake's farthest shores.

  15. Like a torrent, its rear ranks drive its vanguard onward,

    until its current set the Romans' passes flowing.

  16. The earth grows cramped whenever his great hosts march,

    and the sun sickens whenever his dust clouds rise.

  17. His rear ranks were still setting out from Aleppo,

    while his vanguard had already encircled Shimshat.

  18. In that host, the champions bearing battle insignia yearn

    to drink at death's waters whenever its steeds whinny.

  19. When he strikes a land with a devastating onslaught from that host,

    its heights collapse and its depths quake.

  20. Until the lofty fortresses surrender their inhabitants

    in fear, and its strongholds give up those inside.

  21. O his enemies, if you elude his armaments today,

    his deadly assaults will shackle you on the very next day.

  22. The fierce lion is given no room for his proud stride

    by the displays of lions; his snares have already failed.

  23. Return to him, and beg him to spare you the true force of

    a blow whose mere feint cleaves the crowns of helmets.

  24. How many a channel of blood his spearheads have set flowing,

    and how many a channel of bounty his fingertips have set flowing!

  25. Who among you can vie with him when they pour forth—

    the brimming buckets of his hands? Or who can match his stature?

  26. How many a stand you took in their nearest lands,

    taking from them by the sword whatever you sought!

  27. You grew wrathful for the faith until its star was again

    radiant, its setting orb shining upon the horizons.

  28. On every day when his keen swords were drawn,

    its morning brightness returned, though its late afternoon had come.

  29. You left the enemy's pass, after descending upon it,

    its haunts desolate, its dwellings abandoned,

  30. its pleasure grounds blackened by scorching flame,

    its streams reddened by flowing blood.

  31. Its widows yearn longingly for the captives,

    when its bereaved mothers weep over the slain.

  32. You divided their spoils in the shade of their own homeland,

    its maidens dark-lipped, its noblewomen dark-eyed.

  33. Wild creatures among the captives, with whom you comforted the champions,

    their adorned and unadorned alike in beauty.

  34. How many a brave man sold his lifeblood for God's sake,

    then forced his spear onward until its point grew red!

  35. In the morning he dueled with a lion or exchanged blows with him;

    in the evening he possessed a gazelle or courted her.

  36. You gave freely what the slender white swords bestowed;

    you are its taker by force and its giver.

  37. As for poetry, its straying herds have become

    well tended, and its rains have flowed in torrents.

  38. It saw Ali ibn Abd Allah as its direction of prayer,

    and went hastening toward him, or turned to face him.

  39. Like jewelry that found a neck matching its gems,

    it turned from every neck that did not match it.

Sol 6.1