Sol 6.1

  1. This is the reign of bounty and generosity.

    The Cleaver of daybreak has dispelled the night.

  2. And the rain-bearing clouds poured down without

    dreaded thunder or winds.

  3. Our days recalled to us—may we never lose them—

    the time of youth and the time of freedom.

  4. After al-Aziz arose his likeness, al-Zafir—the triumphant—

    on the two days of deputation and combat.

  5. As for the cares that had taken every heart captive,

    every heart is now freely released from them.

  6. Calamity was brought low when the glad

    tidings flew to us on the wing of success.

  7. His successor—may he never be stricken in his resolve,

    ever-victorious, or in his bounty, ever-flowing.

  8. What haughty eye has not been filled with

    him, and what breast has not met him with delight?

  9. The souls of the world danced within their bodies,

    as choice wine dances in the cups.

  10. Above his branching tree the woodland singer sang,

    and stirred the ears after lamentation.

  11. The east wind's breeze is no scorching blast, nor is the sky

    a rainless cloud, nor the shade exposed to sun.

  12. The gardens' smiling mouth had not been

    parted in a smile, nor had the water before this been pure.

  13. Consider, then, the death of gloom and

    sorrow, and the resurrection of delight and joys,

  14. on the feast day of lofty rank and open-handed generosity,

    long hoped for, and radiant nobility.

  15. Security has effaced every fear; so what

    use now is there for soldiers and arms?

  16. Had the lands been able, when

    they were gladdened, they would have walked for sheer delight.

  17. No creature matches him in having so few

    equals in excellence, and so many panegyrists.

  18. May all the dark faces of battle-dust be his ransom,

    and all the reddened cheeks of blades.

  19. His heart is diverted from fair women and dark ones

    by gleaming blade-edges and dusky spears.

  20. Spearheads are the ripe fruit of their branches; look

    how many souls their blossoms have reaped.

  21. Where his thrusts turn back the army, and

    the mouths of wounds bend his outstretched palm,

  22. mimicking, as they split open amid

    the red anemones of wounds, the blossoms of daisies.

  23. A giver of every steed swimming in the blood of

    foes, plunging like allotted doom.

  24. Were Yemeni lightning to vie with him,

    it would fold back its flash, broken-winged.

  25. What a king! Were it not for his name, the

    pulpit would weep from intense anguish and burning thirst.

  26. His name traveled as morning travels, by land and sea,

    on the backs of mounts and planks.

  27. It is the camel-driver's provision, the gathering's

    tale, and the boatman's and sailor's comfort.

  28. There is no blame upon one who destroys the last remnant of what he

    owns, under the law of his generosity.

  29. He slays wealth while himself in need,

    unlike kings, with a slaying that leaves nothing.

  30. Stop: behold the downfall of such freely offered wealth,

    and marvel at the deed of a protector open to all.

  31. One of kings whose praise has rendered

    musk unsalable—how paltry its wafting fragrance!

  32. Even if the morning refused to rise,

    their radiant faces would take its place.

  33. The rain grows stingy when

    the year turns barren, but their palms are not stingy.

  34. He is a sword, with an edge of earnestness

    and a flat side of piety, not jest.

  35. O cloud whose rain-spouts have descended upon the heads of

    hills, as they adorned the backs of the broad valleys,

  36. I shall bestow on you every long-necked, supple maiden,

    as guarantor of every full-bodied young beauty:

  37. mothers of understanding, and, in the lineage of

    merit, daughters of concision and clarity.

  38. What a drowsy maiden—yet not asleep to your lofty deeds—

    and a tipsy one who never touched her lips to a wine-cup!

  39. Enchanting in beauty: captivating and deadly

    is the languor of their eyelids, ailing yet sound.

  40. Their slender figures are supple branches,

    full in the hips, narrow at the girdle.

  41. Your favors have silenced them, though they are eloquent

    in your praise; delight, then, in eloquent beauties struck dumb.

  42. They speak in every meaning that rivals

    the subtleties of magic in the eyes of fair beauties,

  43. through love-poetry that softens glory's affections,

    and praise that stirs generosity's side.

  44. Respect, then, my migration to you, and my forsaking

    all other people in every region.

  45. I traveled apart from the delegations, seeking

    glory, while they traveled for the bounty they solicited.

  46. Long ago I flew, yearning toward your

    remembrance amid distance and separation.

  47. The hopes of the rhymes dwelt in expectation of you,

    and my praise of you traveled onward.

  48. Indeed, I nearly pronounced your

    preeminence decisively, but for the counselors' signal.

  49. God and nobility forbid that

    these beauties should lack even the share of the ugly!

  50. You are my strength after the hoped-for al-Aziz,

    and my hoped-for well-being after Salah.

  51. The people were watered with drizzle and

    dew; succor us with the streaming downpour.

  52. No rain-cloud but you, when it reaches

    an open plain, remains without departing.

  53. When hopes turned dark, there was kindling

    of a firestick in his virtues, and the hollowing of firesticks.

  54. Or, if we came to him penniless, we returned

    with capital and profits.

  55. َ

    Persist, then, in your love of noble deeds and

    generosity; pay no heed to the reproaches of reprovers.

  56. Then tell whoever ignorantly vies with you:

    How can prolonged barking harm the sky?

  57. Out of murderous envy of your primeval honor

    and your ancient, unalloyed nobility.

  58. Full moons do not fear

    the two palms of one who would obscure them, nor an eraser's erasure.

  59. Live on: while you live, kingship is content,

    its eyes at ease, its white fetlock rings and blazes clear.

Sol 6.1