1. The basil shoots of his cheek-down sprouted among his roses,

    and their emerald clothed the carnelian of his cheek.

  2. He appeared, and the crescent shone for us in his crown;

    he walked, and a slender bough passed us in his cloak.

  3. He unsheathed his eyelid's keen blade—do you not see

    the reflection of its watered-steel pattern in his clear cheek?

  4. The bracelets of his twin forelocks trailed downward

    along his waist, and rose upon his breast.

  5. His smiling mouth parted, drawing us with the gleam

    of al-Aqiq's lightning toward al-Udhayb and its watering-place.

  6. My soul be ransom for the fawn who, in his covert,

    is ever shaded by the spearheads of his lions.

  7. A gazelle through whose glance the arrowheads earned

    honor, when they claimed kinship with his grandfather's deadly stroke.

  8. The freshness of his cheek possessed the gardens of the hills,

    and his laurel's reins turned back their anemones.

  9. In battle against the spears charged the hosts of

    boughs, triumphant through his stature's dominion.

  10. A combatant fiercer in battle than his glance

    in arrows, and a sword deadlier than his rejection.

  11. The shooting stars set in the quiver of his arrows,

    and dawn rises in the darkness of his sheath.

  12. Souls love his Indian-forged sword, as though it were

    lightning gleaming from his thunder's smiling mouths.

  13. Hearts desire his arrows, as though

    their arrowheads were fashioned from his draught.

  14. He attacks, making us behold al-Simak in his saddle,

    and the full moon complete within his linked coat of mail.

  15. How long, then, can it hope for the gardens of union with him—

    a heart dwelling forever in the hell of his distance?

  16. And when can he hope for relief from loving him—

    a lovesick man burdened with the hardship of his yearning?

  17. And a tunic-clad youth: from the camphor dawn of his brow

    the darkness of his ambergris curls parts.

  18. Unapproachable, he bared a gaze for slaughter,

    his necklaces guarded by the keen blade of his Hind.

  19. I hurried to him, while the west had cast upon

    the roses of evening the ash from its incense-censer;

  20. and night: her veil's trailing folds had been drawn

    by its Layla, and its Hind's tresses hung loose.

  21. When I entered his chamber, which held within

    its walls an idol whose roses had bewitched me,

  22. and beheld a face whose roses delighted the eye,

    and saw a mouth whose fount of honey was sweet,

  23. the gazelle rose from within to greet me,

    startled, and the crescent encircled me with his forearm.

  24. Then he began bringing me a cup of wine

    that guides the prudent into the folly of his good sense.

  25. A fire whose burning heat is increased by water

    when the cool admixture mingles with it;

  26. a gray-haired ancient that saw the Friend and addressed

    Moses, and spoke to the Messiah in his cradle;

  27. a spirit—were it to enter the entrails of darkness,

    its slave's face would take the name of dawn.

  28. Thus, now from the abandon of his jesting

    I gathered necklaces, and now from his earnestness,

  29. until it dispelled night's twilight, and there blazed

    in the night's ebony the flame of its fire-stick.

  30. Oh, how lovely a life whose shade has receded!

    How unlikely that time should consent to its return!

  31. God bless an unadorned abode at al-Yamamah,

    on which the clouds bestowed their necklace's ornament.

  32. May rain water al-Aqiq's settlement; far away have

    the districts, through their expanses, borne his stature's jewel.

  33. Al-Muhassab became a hailstorm of affliction; yet never

    have honor's renewing rains betrayed the pledge of its covenant.

  34. May its old haunt be cherished, and may it be showered

    with bounty by the hand of generous Ibn Mansur.

  35. Barakat—may glory never cease, in his presence,

    to rejoice, and may time never grieve his loss.

  36. A sea that surged with pure gold and drowned the

    seven seas in the depths of its swelling tide.

  37. A lion whom vultures escort when he raids,

    until we are sure they belong to his army.

  38. Had Dhu al-Qarnayn sought some of his sound judgment,

    Gog would not pass beyond his barrier tomorrow.

  39. Or had God's interlocutor possessed his strength, he would not have called

    his Aaron, even once, to strengthen his arm.

  40. A king who shows you the generosity of Mubarak, his uncle,

    his father's chastity, and his grandfather's protective zeal.

  41. Without him, bounty would not be known, nor would

    petitioners find the landmarks of his highlands.

  42. The All-Merciful has favored us through him with a noble lord,

    whose crown of glory the crescent wished to inhabit.

  43. He destroyed and enriched through courage and generosity,

    so our death and our life come from him.

  44. Livelihood is hoped for from the rain-signs of his clouds,

    and death is feared from the thunderbolts of his thunder.

  45. He rewards whoever offers praise with his benevolence,

    generously granting a full load for his small measure.

  46. The enemy's aggression against him serves his interest,

    and musk is perfected by its opposite's decay.

  47. Calamities assailed the nations; scarcely had he arisen

    when they departed as a captive departs, in fetters.

  48. Death attacks above the hilt of his sword,

    and victory serves beneath his banner's lance.

  49. His foxes hunted the hawks, and the

    warrior lions were caught by mighty old beasts among his lean steeds.

  50. He kept giving pearls, until the

    brilliant shooting stars feared the requests of his delegation.

  51. He journeys toward glory, until he was deemed

    by the Milky Way's river to covet its inexhaustible waters.

  52. Is there any prey of renown that has not already

    had its last spark of life caught in his tawny lion's claw?

  53. The stringing of his virtues by their poet put necklaces to shame,

    and the scattering of his coin by its dispenser surpassed pure gold.

  54. The two advanced toward the foes' hearts, racing one another

    in slaughter: his brown spear and the white blade of his might.

  55. A moon through whom I fashioned poetry, and adorned were

    the horizons of my verse with crescents of his praise.

  56. My lot improved through him, and my eye enjoyed

    sweet slumber, abandoned by the visits of its sleeplessness.

  57. For he, through his generosity, humbled my envier,

    and melted his heart with the ember of his spite.

  58. O pillar through whom honor has been bestowed

    on all creation, by the blessing of seeking him,

  59. and noble hero who sought high glory,

    then journeyed to it on his good fortune's saddle-back,

  60. sovereignty is a neck: you are the ornament of its throat;

    and glory is a body: you are its eternal paradise.

  61. May you be congratulated on the feast of fasting and its breaking,

    forever, and may the crescent greet you with its good fortune.

  62. The feast is one day in time, but you are, for

    Islam, a feast that endures ever afterward.

  63. Were the world just, it would shield you with its own self,

    and Adam, with the rest of his offspring, would be your ransom.

  64. May the decrees of fate always take effect in what

    you intend, and may time let you enjoy its eternity.

Sol 6.1