Sol 5.6

  1. Indeed, Ibn Adham is a star.

    Witness: upon his cheek you see a witness—a beauty mark.

  2. A light toward which the moth—

    —is drawn, as though to a worshipper’s lamp.

  3. Who is like Ibrahim, or

    like his striving father?

  4. A king who surpassed all kings, whose trea—

    —sure is virtues and praiseworthy deeds.

  5. His troops are his litanies,

    and his radiant lands are the mosques.

  6. He inherited piety and glory from

    his noble, lionhearted forefathers.

  7. He is counted among the cowardly because of

    a scrupulous piety beyond the customary measure.

  8. Yet when hardships bare

    their fangs, he tramples hardships

  9. on a noble steed that fetters the wild—

    —beasts; astride it, he is thick of forearm,

  10. swifter than the gusting wind

    against the guile of masters of intrigue.

  11. And when eloqu—

    —ence is spoken of among the poets,

  12. he stands foremost in eloqu—

    —ence before kinsmen and strangers alike.

  13. O son of sovereignty and happi—

    —ness, of worship and sanctuaries,

  14. you are he without whom

    the full-breasted maidens would not sing my verses.

  15. Among people of splendor and

    wit, you have become wittier than Mercury.

  16. Indeed, I have come to you with po—

    —etry, while you are every seeker’s Kaaba,

  17. that you may reward with prayers a serv—

    —ant, sinful yet disdainful of wealth.

  18. So grant them, O

    king crowned with praises.

  19. May you ever be praised for your charac—

    —ter, your noble bearing, and your generous ways,

  20. and remain righteous and merciful

    as long as a worshipper prostrates himself before the All-Merciful.

Sol 5.6