Sol 5.6

  1. O visitor journeying to Tus,

    shrine of purity and land of holiness,

  2. bear my greetings to al-Rida, and alight upon

    the noblest grave of the noblest one entombed.

  3. By God, by God, an oath has sprung

    from one sincere, immersed in loyalty.

  4. Had I command of what I desire,

    verdant Tus would be my lodging for the night.

  5. I would press on, resolute, journeying,

    spending on the road the strength of my pale camels,

  6. toward a shrine cloaked in purity,

    companioned by radiance and splendor.

  7. O my master, son of my masters, smiled—

    the face of my fortune after its frown—

  8. when I saw the Nasibis overturned,

    their standards certain to be brought low.

  9. I openly proclaimed the truth of loyalty to you;

    and truth, once established, cannot be diminished.

  10. O son of the Prophet, through whom God shattered

    the backs of fierce tyrants;

  11. and son of the Trustee, who surpassed in

    merit the mature notables and mighty men;

  12. possessor of excellence, undiminished,

    and wearer of glory without disguise.

  13. Indeed, the partisans of anti-Ali hate are like Jews, and

    their Judaizing may sometimes mingle with Magianism.

  14. How many filthy wretches they have buried in graves,

    though fitter to be cast into Magian tombs!

  15. You are the bonds of certainty; I cling to them

    as long as life's span is joined to a thread of breath.

  16. No one has departed from the covenant of love for you

    save through a Nasibi's secretly planted insinuation.

  17. When you scrutinize the ill omen upon his brow,

    you find within it the snares of Iblis.

  18. How many factions have called me an unbeliever on your account—

    I humbled their lofty heads with a heavy mallet.

  19. I silenced them with proof, and they gave way,

    fleeing me like birds of ill omen.

  20. Their learned man, whenever I debate him,

    is wrapped in an oxhide or a buffalo hide.

  21. The two could not distinguish—while the call to prayer summons you—

    the voice of an adhān from the striking of a bell.

  22. Indeed, Ibn Abbad has sought refuge with you,

    so he fears no lions in the thickets.

  23. Be, O my masters, his means of approach,

    that God may make room for him in the Gardens.

  24. How many eulogies of you he finely composes,

    each like a robe woven of peacock plumes!

  25. And of this one, how often its reader will say:

    “He has scattered pearls across the pages!”

  26. May its author command the servitude of verse

    as Solomon commanded the palace of Bilqis.

  27. May God bring him to all he hopes for,

    until he unpacks his saddles in Tus.

Sol 5.6