Sol 5.6

  1. Reign, O Ali—there is nothing strange or wondrous in that;

    and fasten your house’s tent-rope to a star in heaven.

  2. Take pride before mankind in a soul ennobled by lofty glories,

    as, before you, that forebear took pride over them.

  3. Poetry came seeking us, for you made its unsaleable wares sell,

    until you gave it a place among humankind.

  4. A man recites it while the bounty of your eminence showers him,

    as though you were the sea, presented with some of what it had itself bestowed.

  5. Thanks to her for meanings rising in you—

    had their ascendant belonged to a star, it would never have set.

  6. Her beauty delights the eye of whoever beholds her;

    and beyond all this, she has already grown sweet upon the palate.

  7. A graceful maiden, one of thought’s daughters, stands unveiled;

    even were that radiance veiled, it could never be concealed.

  8. Novel in diction: when the reed pen roams with her

    across the pages, you see slender bān trees and sweet waters.

  9. She remembered the days of neighbors once hers, and sang

    of them with fragrance richer than the breath of the east wind.

  10. A fresh-created meaning grew tender, and then

    my tears flowed, paying the deserted campsite all that was due.

  11. I have not forgotten the tongues of circumstance saying:

    “Protect with Yā-Sīn a beauty that has captivated minds,

  12. and praise the sweetness of radiant words—

    through their brilliance, water and flame have become alike.”

  13. She journeyed far from her creator’s door—alas, what sorrow!—

    yet reached me across the distance—ah, what delight!

  14. Who will grant me a kiss upon that door in requital,

    so I may go forth, prostrate in praise and drawing near?

  15. O writer, doomed is the striving of whoever vies with him:

    he goes off carrying firewood made from his own pens.

  16. I swear, you are the keenest-witted of all who ever wielded a pen;

    you create rhetorical marvels and know grammar better than any who pursued letters.

  17. By God, had dawn come upon her, never would

    all creation, beneath night’s trailing hem, falsely ascribe her radiance to it.

Sol 5.6