Sol 6.1

  1. Right has returned to its rightful place,

    and you, of all mankind, are most entitled to it.

  2. You were only a sword that a hand drew,

    then returned to its sheath.

  3. It brandished it until I saw it keen-edged,

    its gleam sparing it the need to strike.

  4. How noble a vizierate, which has handed

    its charge only to its rightful masters!

  5. It has yearned for you since you left it,

    as a gray-haired man yearns for his youth.

  6. One like you is envied, yet it is impossible

    to reach the lightning within its cloud.

  7. Some tried to win it—but who is there

    who can draw a lurking lion from its forest?

  8. The father of cubs bloodies whoever crowds him

    within his thicket, with his claw and fang.

  9. And have you heard of, or seen, anyone wearing

    the skin that the speckled serpent has shed?

  10. Do not think idle chatter can erase

    an irrevocable decree God ordained in His Book.

  11. The breeze's passage, morning and evening,

    cannot dislodge solid rock from its heights.

  12. Nor will it yield its reins to just anyone—

    an office with glory's own tongue among its suitors.

  13. When they found it hard to win, they became certain

    that the sky belongs to its eagle alone.

  14. The crescent's rising is hoped for

    after the moon's dark phase, on the night it is concealed.

  15. And none despair of the sun's rising,

    though night enfolds it in its cloak.

  16. How sweet the homelands are! Yet they

    are sweeter to a man after his exile.

  17. How many a return has pointed to its permanence,

    and man's eternity lies in his return.

  18. If the pearl were close at hand to whoever fetched it,

    the diver would not venture into deep water to seek it.

  19. And had it stayed fast within its shells,

    crowns would never have entered its reckoning.

  20. Whoever loves the heights encounters there

    what a lover meets from his beloveds:

  21. rejection at one time, union at another;

    and the devoted lover's delight lies in his reproaches.

  22. And sometimes what you hope for proves difficult,

    and what you fear becomes one of its means.

  23. The sea's pearls and its coral lie

    only beyond the terror of its surging depths.

  24. The rugged heights have bowed before Fakhr al-Dawla,

    and he has taught the days some of his good manners.

  25. He has made Time his servant: whenever he commands it,

    it answers him with obedience.

  26. Through his refinement of Time's character, he almost

    takes treachery away even from its wolves.

  27. His days have bowed their necks,

    and humbly follow in his retinue,

  28. like bands of those who seek

    his reward, or fear his punishment.

  29. If they err, they keep offering apologies;

    if they do right, it is through his right judgment.

  30. O seeker of generosity, having lost it,

    why do you not seek it in his presence?

  31. Wherever he settles, people behold Generosity,

    its two hands pointing toward his pavilions.

  32. You see delegations of gratitude around his house,

    like stakes along its tent ropes.

  33. No sooner do they rouse hopes from their breasts

    than those hopes kneel in the courtyard at his door.

  34. And how could Hope not love his dwelling,

    when it has no pasture but his grasses?

  35. He entrusted his permission to the hands of noble deeds,

    and they lifted his curtain by its two edges.

  36. Do not ask how far his kindness extends,

    or ask the autumn rain where it falls.

  37. The cheerfulness he offers spares you

    the need to seek permission from his doorkeepers.

  38. Repeated requests make his bounty overflow,

    and the milk gushes forth when it is drawn.

  39. He is the one whose deeds are so fair

    that they seem derived from his titles.

  40. One whose very core holds the nobility of lordship,

    and whose essence holds the lineage of exalted rank.

  41. His resolve is like a straight spear—were it not

    that the spear falls short of it through its wavering.

  42. Give thanks, vizier of viziers, and you will gain

    many times what you have been granted by its giver.

  43. You came like rain falling on a thirsty man

    whom his deceitful mirage had kept putting off.

  44. How many a worshipper bowed when you rose into view,

    as though he prayed toward his prayer niche!

  45. And a fasting man—the sight of you has spared him

    the need for his food and drink, through its sweetness.

  46. And if the seat of office could run, it would run

    to welcome you, strutting in its robes.

  47. Its heart was restless until there sat, knees drawn up,

    at its center the one it desired.

  48. You would surely dwell in tranquil prosperity,

    which gives the heart command over its delight,

  49. helps the world to adorn itself,

    and prevails over Time through all its ages.

  50. It has laid down its staff, and its mounts have lain down

    in the valley's heart and in its ravines.

  51. The tender nose has been freed of its nose-ring,

    and the withers relieved of their packsaddles.

  52. Through your two hands, whose bounty is hoped for,

    the raven of separation has repented of its cawing.

Sol 6.1