Sol 6.1

  1. Her promise and her threat are alike to us,

    when union with her and her rejection are equal.

  2. We halted; the tribe's white antelopes, startled, turned,

    to hunt their hunters with antelope glances.

  3. Is it from drowsiness that their eyes gaze toward me?

    Is it from drunkenness that their figures have leaned over me?

  4. So one, distraught, yields her reins to passion,

    while passion's captive has begun to lead her.

  5. And another, tranquil, sways, her longing quiet,

    when her stem sways with the sap of youth.

  6. So her cheeks belong to roses, her saliva to wine,

    and her sides to the bough, her neck to the gazelle.

  7. I testify: longing has indeed poured over me;

    my tears and my sighs are its witnesses against me.

  8. Have you not seen me spurn pursuits, when

    their abode of bounty faded and their newness grew threadbare?

  9. And I have guarded the necklaces of praise from every miser

    who holds their pearls and their choicest pearl cheap.

  10. Is glory found anywhere but in favors bestowed

    by Ibn Fahd's virtues, or heights of honor they raise?

  11. A youth who has spurred his bounty, so he need not urge it;

    his favors have increased, so he need not seek their increase.

  12. He has nobility of lofty station, and an ambition

    whose ascent draws deep sighs from the enemy.

  13. He has ever been peerless in noble deeds, and only

    the peerless, unrivaled man of noble deeds is looked to with hope.

  14. You see between his eyes stars of cheer,

    whose hosts gleam for the seeker of generosity.

  15. So if, throughout east and west, renowned

    are Ibn Fahd's glories, praise increases them.

  16. Salama, the Azd indeed, through valor and bounty,

    rule all mankind, and you rule them.

  17. And the enemies have learned that you never begin

    a devastating assault without repeating it.

  18. They saw a lion who faces death unarmored,

    when their lions swagger in shirts of iron.

  19. So their might and their resistance deserted them,

    and their edge and their iron were blunted.

  20. I have lain sleepless for your affection, whose smile has faded,

    and for stars of your cheer whose good fortune has vanished.

  21. With me, concealment has never hidden a kindness,

    nor has ingratitude in me ever marred a blessing.

  22. I shall proclaim a bounty you never cease to sustain,

    and offer praise for a favor you never cease to bestow.

  23. And give thanks for it as gardens do for a kindness

    from bright evening clouds that came to drench them.

  24. So the merchants of praise departed, spreading their praise,

    their fortunes having prospered through your bounty.

  25. You showed them a cheerful face and a palm

    whose presence reveals its might in calamities.

  26. And the rhymes of poetry about you became brides,

    their necks and cheeks lighting the darkness.

  27. So may the white days never cease to greet you,

    you alone, while their black ones greet whoever opposes you.

  28. Thus, amid life's ease, you gladden their good fortune,

    and their festival recurs in auspicious times.

  29. And take a robe of honor, of exquisite brocade,

    its cloaks and its mantles embroidered.

  30. For its stars have shone only in your presence,

    and its necklaces have looked lovely only upon you.

Sol 6.1