Sol 5.6

  1. I see a sentence on the page of the universe that goes unread,

    and a feeling within the soul that knows and does not know;

  2. and a fire within the folds of the ribs: whenever

    certainty’s cold penetrates it, it glows into embers.

  3. It is the fire within the breast, yet it is guidance

    for one who will not countenance unbelief in his faith.

  4. By its light, the leaders before us journeyed,

    and waved red banners over kingdoms.

  5. How often they beheld it in the Hijaz, while its light

    shone upon the necks of she-camels coming from Bosra.

  6. Were it not for its radiance, no discerning person would know

    whether he bore a heart between his ribs—or a rock.

  7. Without it, no account of the spirit would be known,

    nor could we recount a trace of it, or follow in its wake.

  8. Its own essence and dwelling are hidden from it,

    yet throughout the worlds its traces follow one another.

  9. At every moment it has a manifestation in creation,

    revealing that God has lodged it there as a secret:

  10. smoke without aloeswood, fragrance without incense,

    lightning without a wire, and night travel without an Isrāʾ.

  11. Whoever contemplates what lies far away will find there,

    along its sides, things beyond all numbering.

  12. And whoever reflects upon the tears he sheds

    wades through them into the sea flowing from between his eyes.

  13. Upon the parchment of existence I saw pages

    on which their Lord alternates verse and prose:

  14. ordered by love, scattered by loathing,

    reconciled by the familiar, set at variance by the strange.

  15. Its hosts are spirits: passion has become

    a necklace-string for their forms, and they have become pearls;

  16. for them, amid the ardors of hearts, are many paths.

    The noblest of them in love is enamored of the noblest—

  17. just as my heart was enamored of al-Khalil ibn Mardam.

    There, chaste ʿUdhrī love truly accompanied the maiden.

  18. The noblest of Syria’s grandees in lineage—and indeed he is

    the youngest of them in years, yet the greatest in stature;

  19. the broadest in forbearance and the most open-handed;

    the noblest in stock and the truest in dawning brilliance.

  20. I swear that I have never seen his equal:

    a youth who, through experience, captivated his country’s elders.

  21. The Chosen One’s light made him gleam within his lineage,

    and the radiant glory of his ancestry spread throughout ʿAdiyy.

  22. An ode from him came to me, seeking my endorsement—

    but can a feeble star impart light to the full moon?

  23. How can a man endorse one whose standing towers above

    his own? Can a finger-span equal a handspan?

  24. He so enriched my verse that, when he recited it, I nearly

    doubted whether he had enriched the verse—or the poet.

  25. A master of poetry vies with me—can you imagine

    this dust contending with that pure gold?

  26. An endorsement from one like me to one like him is only sincere prayer

    for his success—and may God prolong his life.

  27. From this day forth, I see in him a peerless man:

    thus one who has sighted the crescent may hope for the full moon.

  28. I testify: in beauty he is a full moon, and in piety

    I recognize in him the mien of those who witnessed Badr.

Sol 5.6