Sol 6.1

  1. :

    And he also said:

    Your face revived passion—rather, it destroyed the lovesick man.

  2. And your heart has grown still, yet it troubles mine.

    Fear God concerning an eye whose sleep you stole,

  3. and the patience of one who longs, which you left as plunder.

    I see you knew nothing of love when you abandoned me,

  4. for whoever has known love will not forsake lovers.

    A visitor grew weary; the scorpions of his temple spent the night

  5. unceasingly stinging and plundering my heart and patience.

    His bewitching eye guarded the garden of his cheek:

  6. it unsheathed its glances and cloaked itself in lashes.

    O our beloved ones, pardon an offender’s words;

  7. by your honor, I committed no fault in loving you.

    You combined rejection and reproach against us in love;

  8. for love’s sake, do not combine rejection and reproach.

    For a time, we knew you as allies against separation;

  9. why, then, have you become its allies against us?

    If you remain allies of estrangement and separation,

  10. then anguish and longing have become our allies.

    Whenever a pillar appeared, I hastened to inquire,

  11. but prolonged questioning of the caravan does not relieve anguish.

    And if a breeze from Najd blows, I intercept it;

  12. yet who will bring me the breeze of Najd when it blows?

    By the life of love, grant reason to a lover

  13. who answers whenever lightning calls him from your direction.

    Its flash has indeed blunted patience’s edge in my heart;

  14. and what fire within my ribs has it not kindled!

    As though the morning rainclouds deemed my tears rebellious,

  15. they unsheathed from them a keen sword against my eye.

    I charge the breezes of the east wind with carrying my burning grief;

  16. I swear, I have tasked them with a difficult ride.

    So do not listen to the slanderers who say that we

  17. have forgotten you—perdition upon their claims, perdition!

    A lovesick man seeks refuge in you; you departed with his heart.

  18. How often he has drawn out guarded tears, how often poured them forth!

    He pours them lavishly over your courtyards,

  19. like the bounty of Abd al-Rahim’s two hands, gushing forth.

    Whenever the most exalted, virtuous lord sits with knees clasped

  20. for a day of giving, behold Thahlan and the clouds.

    And if the pursuit of gain engrosses people, there is no

  21. gain for him but attaining glory through gifts.

    The dust of his court wafts fragrance to those seeking bounty,

  22. as though powdered musk had become its suitor overnight.

    They passed away, equals of every virtue;

  23. how many praises they bore that leave the ages breathless!

    No lord among them has died, with you as his successor.

  24. Indeed, thus should a lord leave his legacy to his descendants!

    Whenever a problem of state defies a remedy,

  25. he sets about severing its causes, resolute and skilled in healing.

    He is the sun, never inclining toward a shameful setting.

  26. He is the sword whose edge no target has blunted.

    He shouldered the burden of kingship, fully equal to it,

  27. and overflowed upon bounty-seekers like the sea when it surges.

    Whether a petitioner or an adversary approaches him,

  28. he grants them, respectively, ample generosity and war.

    His renown frightened his enemies before his person did—

  29. his handsome person—though they were mighty, thick-necked chiefs.

    Even in safety, a tempest in his name shakes them,

  30. and death’s crosswind heaps disaster upon them.

    The shining foreheads of his enemies fall before him;

  31. and oh, how many peaks of their eminence he has lopped off!

    Against them he is the spear and the polished sword:

  32. he strings them together with thrusts and scatters them with blows.

    Bold: if ever one day you summon him to a crisis,

  33. you find a keen-edged lord, vigilant and ready to act.

    He straightened the Arabs’ tongue after its crookedness,

  34. a master of words who enslaves non-Arabs and Arabs alike.

    He has a pen whose tip is like a sharp sword;

  35. in his fingers, how many people it has surpassed, how many it has repelled!

    An army, when the five fingers encircle its flanks.

  36. And when he speaks at length, he silences the orators.

    He brings death and life, writing and mustering,

  37. to battalions and books, for his caller and his assailant.

    Indeed, the drops of his spittle have become, for the aggressor,

  38. torment, and for the seeker of bounty, a sweet watering place.

    He is the keen sword, hard to match in eloquence

  39. and beauty; approach him and behold the keen sword and the unyielding one.

    Through him the scattered company is reunited, and bounty is

  40. grass for its seeker, a valley for its regular visitor.

    He eclipsed Sahban’s renown; then Sahban came dragging

  41. before him the hems of helplessness, touching the dust in homage.

    When his right hand writes at length on the dawn of his page,

  42. you see night’s darkness embracing the shooting stars.

    A cloud that pours down plenty and drought—and seldom

  43. have you seen a cloud rain down plenty and drought.

    His hand has showered us continually with his generosity,

  44. and he has become worthy of virtues—rather, their lord.

    He gives close-woven mail, bright swords, and lances,

  45. red rugs and well-built, lean-bellied steeds.

    Whoever remains ignorant reproaches me for loving him,

  46. yet I have favors from him that make love a duty.

    I scattered upon him the woven verse of my thought; I merely

  47. scattered fresh pearls upon his lofty eminence.

    The giver of pearls is owed their like,

  48. and whoever strings pebbles deserves pebbles.

Sol 6.1