Sol 6.1

  1. She sang, conversing with him through a dark-pupilled gaze,

    on the day of parting, and through the rose of a red cheek,

  2. and through a mouth's ordered teeth, whose embroidery never gleamed

    without the string of jewels weeping in shame.

  3. It offers you its breath, as though

    its sides had been blended with strong-scented musk.

  4. A branch rising high in a pale sand dune;

    a night grown dark within a radiant morning;

  5. a sun: when she appears, there blows upon hearts

    from her cheek's expanse a breeze of ambergris.

  6. Never did the charms of his gaze draw an eye

    without turning it back, bewildered, in its socket.

  7. With a sigh, her words recited to me

    verses of longing concealed within her breast.

  8. So it was as though she looked at me with an eye

    and spoke on behalf of my besotted heart.

  9. Her glances bestowed upon her cheeks

    the heart's robes of honor in streaming tears.

  10. And they fell upon her rose, as though they were

    dew falling upon a red rose.

  11. She granted reunion; yet no—by the old burning pain of her abandonment,

    I do not savor reunion unless I have been forsaken.

  12. She turned kindly toward me with the downpour of her union's water,

    as al-Husayn turns toward the needy man's hope.

  13. A king whose right hand's generosity humbled the delegation,

    until he sank deep into the highest glory.

  14. His two right hands mirror a worshipper's two right hands,

    and he says, “If I do not emulate him, I shall not be excused.”

  15. Likewise, unless a young man wins remembrance for his sword

    and his deeds through his gifts, he will not be remembered.

  16. His scents and their fragrance distracted the swirling dust

    among the spears from the sweet scent of the incense brazier.

  17. For his opponent amid the ranks there are clouds,

    joined to the clouds of a biting, howling wind.

  18. He meets the enemy with his sword and his brow,

    and says, “What is not decreed does not come to pass.”

  19. The lofty heights of his glory refuse to let him clothe himself

    in fear of an opponent, or be seen in a mail helmet.

  20. What heart has he brought before his mighty assaults

    through an onslaught of his, without its splitting apart?

  21. Or what imagination has sought the essence of his qualities,

    in perplexity about him, yet not grown bewildered?

  22. Swift with his spears against the foes, a kindler of war,

    he accepts only piercing a brave kindler of battle.

  23. And when he climbs the steps of glory, it says to him,

    “You have reached the utmost height: take the foremost seat.”

  24. Vigilant: when the firm resolves of his judgment blaze,

    they extinguish the judgment of the wayward tyrant.

  25. O hopes, your aim is true;

    this is al-Husayn, Abu al-Husayn; go no further.

  26. Set down your saddles among the five fingers of his right hand,

    for it indeed takes the place of seven seas.

Sol 6.1