Sol 6.1

  1. A heart obeyed longing among the landmarks,

    And an eye defied everything but streaming tears.

  2. Whenever lightning flashed, my tears overflowed with yearning;

    But for love, I would not weep for one who smiles.

  3. O dwellers of Najd, the days of union with you,

    And of tender youth, were only a sleeper's dreams.

  4. Grant us guidance if you will not bestow solace,

    For we have lost our way in the dawn of smiling mouths.

  5. The suns of your dwellings have been veiled from us;

    Why, then, do we face scorching winds through their loss?

  6. God help me against longing stirred by the east wind,

    And love's heat, kindled by the doves' lament.

  7. The orator of tears rises at the place of parting,

    And voices the rhymed cooing of the speechless doves.

  8. They lament together at a wedding held among the great trees,

    Yet their song leaves us at funeral gatherings.

  9. May God water the days of closeness, for they were

    Sweeter than drowsing in a dreamer's eyelid.

  10. In them you established longing's market, just as

    The market of noble deeds was established through Najm al-Din.

  11. He is the king: could they truly act, they would kiss

    His hands—the smiling mouths of noble deeds.

  12. When he speaks, he has no need of Sahban Wa'il;

    And when he gives, he makes Tayyi' forget the memory of Hatim.

  13. If drought arises and his [fingers?] give lavishly,

    You see two armies: one defeated and one victorious.

  14. His hand's gifts set every seated man on his feet;

    He wields onslaughts that lay every standing man low.

  15. They made the desert beasts laugh at his enemies,

    Yet made the keen swords' scabbards weep.

  16. Swords that send heads flying from their nests,

    Where the pounding of legs is the wing of battle-dust.

  17. I swear: if their edges could reach the sky,

    They would scatter the night's stars like scattered dirhams.

  18. He advanced upon them while the deserts teemed with them,

    Teaching them there to weep over the landmarks.

  19. Lines of steeds, whose fetters the white swords released,

    And that only after sharp lances had dotted them.

  20. How many a valiant man he captured that day,

    Whom the tread of black fetters made forget the gallop of gray steeds.

  21. A youth who hunts lions while they are ravening,

    Vying with the circling eagles of the banners.

  22. None but he severs heads,

    And none but he strings hearts together.

  23. The forenoon on the morning of meeting him seems a secret,

    In a concealer's breast, beneath the black dust-clouds.

  24. His dust drives the sunbeam back from him,

    Sickly, with old vultures' backs for its bedding.

  25. He traveled by night only through the nights of his dust,

    And journeyed only in the morning of firm resolve.

  26. His brown lances are only speckled snakes in battle,

    And his [mail?] only the skins of speckled snakes.

  27. My speech became a jewel through King al-Mu'ayyad;

    What use is a sword not supported by a hilt?

  28. Sweet are his qualities; their fragrance made musk unsalable;

    But for him, the hearts of perfume-caskets would not have blackened.

  29. Of a people who proclaimed generosity in their cradles,

    And attained perfection before their amulets were tied.

  30. They shielded Islam from its blue-eyed foes,

    With brown lances and mighty thoroughbred steeds.

  31. Their ferocity in war is death to the combatant,

    And in peace their bounty is life to the peaceable.

  32. How many a creed of generosity none but they have instituted,

    And how many a malady of hypocrisy none but they have cut away!

  33. They poured the lights of their justice over the horizons,

    And swept the darkness of oppression from the world.

  34. If the days of their rule remain for people,

    How little the days of bygone youth matter!

  35. Their palms' unfolding has made the earth's carpet—

    Together with their free giving—like a vast, surging sea.

  36. They seized nothing but their enemies' souls,

    And held nothing but sword-edges and bridle-bits.

  37. I returned to my homeland, as your name suggests, after

    My times, both adversary and judge, had made me wretched.

  38. How many a blessing for which the A'waji steeds deserve praise,

    And how many a kindness for which camel-hooves are thanked!

  39. More delightful than loved ones in a lover's heart,

    And sweeter than home in an arriving traveler's eyes.

  40. You turned the world's darkness to forenoon, after

    Dawn had traveled through it in gloom coal-black as your battle-dust.

  41. Yours is the bounty, O son of rain, in every town;

    Nor does al-Batha' deny the clouds' bounty.

  42. Your spears are barriers guarding the glory of the Hijaz,

    And nothing but a safeguard for the fortified cities.

  43. How many beneath the western horizon have you as their sun,

    And in al-Sham, how many an eye watches for lightning like yours!

  44. Thanks to your face, the earth's face, once frowning,

    Is cheerful, and justice's eye is not asleep.

  45. But for you, kingship would have a lowered radiance,

    A narrow range of vision and feeble pillars.

  46. This is my brother, whose quest for bounty has brought him to you;

    And a vision of you is, to me, among the greatest spoils.

  47. If he is present at bounty, I am not absent;

    And if he finds favor, I am not deprived.

  48. How many a man confines his praise to you,

    And many an outstretched hand, never yielded to a resolute man;

  49. And many a man standing upright, offering you his uplifted prayer,

    Who sleeps in ease, unafraid of one who cuts him off.

  50. Your favors have left within me a longing

    Too great for the heart and breast to contain.

  51. Grant me glory's virgins and its graceful maidens,

    For I am enamored of nothing but lofty deeds.

  52. How many a feast day when you restored wealth for me,

    Swiftly, and a year afloat in your bounty!

  53. Through it you guaranteed the return of youth and its season,

    And came like a gathering rain-cloud.

  54. May you ever be beauty and delight for the days,

    For you are a festival for all festivals.

  55. If ever the lands and their people are left without you,

    Who then could be hoped for there to ward off great calamities?

Sol 6.1