Sol 6

  1. He captivated me with the fluttering of his eyelids.

    And the magic of his pupil stole over me.

  2. He drowned my gaze in its waters,

    And burned my heart with its fires.

  3. I asked him for a sip from his saliva,

    And tried to kiss his teeth.

  4. But he turned away, smiling and laughing,

    And rebuffed me, intent on his own affairs.

  5. The softness of his coyness gave me hope,

    While his defiance drove me to despair.

  6. Sweet voiced, melodious, and slender waisted,

    He stirs the doves with his melodies.

  7. Though possessed of judgment, he is unjust, in private

    And openly, to those who love him.

  8. For his smiling mouth, when it first blossomed,

    Let us kiss nothing but its tender shoots.

  9. He showed me love and its creeds,

    So I became a devotee of those creeds.

  10. In love, he mingled his closeness for me

    With abandonment on the morning of reproach.

  11. I would give my life for a beloved whose distance

    Has made the familiar sights of his homeland grieve me.

  12. He departed the encampment, leaving its tamarisks,

    Its two hillocks, and its ban trees.

  13. I stood at the traces of his dwelling after

    The events of his times had effaced them.

  14. My tears overflowed and poured forth,

    Running down my cheeks at the sight of those traces.

  15. I watered its landmarks with my tears

    And kissed the low ridges of its dunes.

  16. Ah, what a dwelling place, now effaced

    And desolate since its people left.

  17. The wild gazelles there have become tame

    Since its gazelles departed.

  18. May a downpour of rain water its open grounds,

    And a streaming, steady rain drench them.

  19. May the cloud’s rumbling flashes continue

    There, with their thunder.

  20. And an open waste lies lonely and deserted;

    It bewilders the minds of its travelers.

  21. I crossed its broad plains while darkness

    Showed me its deepest black.

  22. O camels, if one presses on in its journey,

    It races the fleetest of its eagles,

  23. Striving toward the brilliant young man, the

    Victorious heir to his sovereignty.

  24. A king before whom the kings of the world

    Keep falling in submission to his crowns.

  25. Among his glories is a banner

    He inherited from his Solomon.

  26. He outstripped the forerunners in the race for eminence

    And left them behind in his arena.

  27. From his glory he raised a pulpit

    Higher than the star of Saturn.

  28. His pens encompass all the realms

    And proclaim his authority over them.

  29. He is greater and more exalted than Caesar

    And Darius son of Darius and his khagan.

  30. In his character is the generosity of Hatim

    And Kaʿb, and the force of his Hassan.

  31. If his generosity were a pouring rain,

    It would follow Noah with another flood.

  32. O peerless one of this age in glory,

    Sincere in worship of the Merciful One.

  33. Glory on earth is yours; it was given to you

    By a God who guided you to faith in Him.

  34. Can any envious person alter God’s blessing

    Despite his vigilance?

  35. So no man’s schemes can harm you,

    Even if the prompting of his devil deceives him.

  36. For Pharaoh’s plotting in his ignorance

    Could not harm Moses son of Imran,

  37. Even when, in his ignorance, he sought help

    From his Qarun or his Haman.

Sol 6