Sol 5.6

  1. The lords contend over you, so rare a treasure are you;

    each claims the favor of having fashioned you.

  2. One lord says, “I created him and sustained him,

    though seldom does his scratching startle the celestial spheres.”

  3. Then another grows enraged with him:

    “Enough! You are neither here nor there.

  4. I am his lord; I shaped him and raised him

    among mankind until he walked beside kings.

  5. I gave him the house of al-Mu’ayyad, and there he built

    palaces and raised up estates.

  6. Whenever I wish, I lift him above al-Suhā,

    and make him a Simāk above al-Simāk itself.

  7. And whenever I wish, I lay him low and make him

    like Farid Wajdi—a mendacious writer.”

  8. O sheikh of al-Mu’ayyad—by al-Mu’ayyad, by Him who

    created al-Mu’ayyad, by Him who made you rich—

  9. are you the handiwork of one sovereign disposer,

    who in His realm admits no partnership?

  10. Or are you the handiwork of a committee of character,

    which gives minds and grants understanding?

  11. Glory be to it—what a committee! If only it

    had created for us, among men, someone other than you.

  12. Were I of their making, I would surely disown them

    and deny them; so renounce that one and this.

  13. To God you belong, Father of the Press—not to them.

    They have lied: they cannot create even a sandal-thong.

Sol 5.6