Sol 5.6

  1. Are these snub-nosed oryx, or stars and radiant planets,

    enclosed by ships sailing within the mirage?

  2. Ships of the land bear them, traveling with them upon

    noble she-camels you behold—though these are no seas.

  3. They turned away, while for your sake my heart seemed

    as though a wheeling arrow were severing my heel-cords.

  4. Would that they had turned aside to bid farewell to a lovesick man

    who hovers near to take his leave of them, yet is turned away—

  5. a sorrowful lover whose constant lot in passion

    is to be bought and sold in love’s market, and pointed out.

  6. Hark, ask the coy and graceful one: what has befallen her, that she withdrew

    and made her visiting-place distant, after it had been near?

  7. Though every trace of her campsite be effaced, how many—how many—

    encampments and dwellings of hers remain within my heart!

  8. Who can blame me in love, if I struck a bargain

    whose price was my soul outright—a sale admitting no rescission?

  9. She appeared like a supple bān-tree shoot swaying upon a sandy dune,

    and like a starry night above the sun of day.

  10. Her eyelids shimmered, as though she were

    a white oryx doe reared among herds of gazelles and wild cattle—

  11. one of the full-figured, fair-skinned women, slender of waist,

    the water of freshness flowing over her cheek.

  12. She smiles, revealing pure, gleaming incisors that enclose

    two sweet draughts, their purity blended with wine.

  13. And a meadow’s robe, woven by pouring rain,

    upon a hillock firmly rooted in the earth,

  14. inlaid with pearls and emeralds,

    adorned with silver and with gold.

  15. Over it a dark rain-cloud lingered unceasingly,

    pouring from its downpour one train of rain after another.

  16. Then the fragrance of ʿarār blossoms breathed through it, as though

    it were the character of Abu al-Tayyib, King ʿArār.

  17. A young man who built up what his grandfather before him had built,

    and his father too, of sovereign nobility and glory.

  18. He governed the affairs of all the worlds

    while no hair had yet appeared upon his cheek.

  19. When those who confess their incapacity put on their adornments,

    he adorns himself with the twin mantles of integrity and dignity.

  20. Ḥātim and Ibn ʿĀṣim alike fall short of him,

    whether at the hour of largesse or the hour of attack.

  21. Whenever you become his neighbor and lodge within his domain,

    you will live with him, envied for his fine neighborly protection.

  22. Majesty surrounds him from before and from

    behind, from his right and from his left.

  23. He plunges into fierce battle with no veil upon his face

    but a robe of pitch-darkness and dust-haze,

  24. when the cavalry wheels and charges among shaggy-maned steeds,

    their horsemen hurtling on, and among deep-plunging chargers.

  25. And blocking the sun’s rays in the splendor of forenoon are

    dark masses of dust, stirred high into the sky.

  26. O Abu al-Tayyib, may those pastures of yours which

    you made your home remain forever joined to flourishing habitation.

  27. Do you not see that I have made you, for what

    I fashion in praise, my choice above all humankind?

  28. And it is only in your praise, whenever

    I rehearse it in secret thought and open speech.

  29. And if you would ask about my practice in this,

    then ask me: this is my constant habit and my watchword.

Sol 5.6