Sol 6

  1. I long for those mornings and late afternoons

    And what passed in their few days.

  2. They were brief, though a delight at life's beginning,

    As the young ones of working camels are short of reach.

  3. Nights I wore like the cloak of youth,

    Trailing their hem as one richly robed.

  4. Bright bygone times, as though they were

    The white temples of noble beauties.

  5. They were filled with every adornment for the eye;

    How lovely they were, if only they did not pass away.

  6. What short days followed one another!

    When they ended, long days came after.

  7. As though the nights had reckoned with us and sent

    Later ones to exact the balance of the earlier ones.

  8. May God water the protected land and its time

    With the milk of the full udders of rain clouds.

  9. How often I hunted in those dwellings, and was hunted,

    Despite my people's might, by a flirtatious gazelle.

  10. And by a dark-eyed one who, nearby, wielded a sword

    Of enchantment in his glances, and from afar shot arrows.

  11. He turns away coyly; then his image comes to me.

    How fine a severer who keeps returning!

  12. O Asma, has distance come between me and your embrace?

    My heart has not turned from what you knew of it.

  13. If I visit other people after you to seek distraction,

    Your love still keeps me from all others.

  14. I carry your likeness in my sight, and

    See its face in the eyes of everyone I meet.

  15. I speak while the breaths of the winds visit me

    In an illness visible deep within my hidden heart.

  16. When my soul, your eyes, and the east wind meet,

    Three sufferers vie to voice their complaint:

  17. Two are sick with grief and beauty; the third

    Travels between us with messages despite the distance.

  18. When time brings a day of distress, does a person seek help

    From anyone but a kindred, fitting companion?

  19. Even if this morning I have bid my folly farewell

    And my sword now lies in a polisher's hand,

  20. How many nights gave generously to me, bringing

    A full moon near enough for my hand to reach.

  21. Beside that one's smiling mouth runs the line of cheek down,

    As a beekeeper's smoke appears around honey.

  22. He passed wine among the companions, and still

    A hand with dyed fingers and one without passed it on.

  23. When we were alone, our lips exchanged

    Cups too exalted for fingers to pass.

  24. It was borrowed time in life; its lender demanded it back

    In haste, and time is the worst of dealers.

  25. I submitted to time's decree and its uncertainties;

    One who does not fight must submit to the decree.

  26. I left my heart behind in my land, astray,

    And departed from it while remaining there.

  27. I left dear people in distant homes,

    With the long reach of distance standing between us.

  28. Whenever I say the time to meet them has come,

    Procrastinating fate stretches the wait.

  29. One of my burning sorrows, friend, is that I am thirsty,

    Yet I will not drink from every watering place.

  30. I watch people's affairs with an eye

    Whose lids lower like those of one who knows but feigns ignorance.

  31. When I saw that honor was hard to seek

    From afar except on tireless mounts,

  32. I urged the strong camels toward it, and they sped

    With my companions like startled ostriches.

  33. They brought us to the landmarks of Jayy; there I kept

    Remembering the time of companions now departed.

  34. I turn my gaze right and then left,

    Following the changing fortunes of time.

  35. They said, 'A siege is drawing near, and with it

    We fear the roads will be cut off from travelers.'

  36. I said, while the worn camels knelt

    And a grave calamity had arrived:

  37. 'My two friends, untie the camels' tethers and depart;

    Isfahan today is no abode for a sensible man.

  38. The sound course is to make for Rayy before that happens;

    Turn your mounts toward it.

  39. Let us visit in Mu'in al-Din a patron who will help us

    Against time when it alarms a man with misfortunes.

  40. In his shade the frightened find safety, and the

    Distraught find comfort, while every worthy person finds favor.

  41. He is a man whose generosity reaches east and west;

    No creature leaves him without receiving a gift.

  42. He is a remnant of humanity's glories and the stars of the

    Noble, and of the finest kings.

  43. We traveled by night toward him through misleading country,

    Wandering across unknown wastes.

  44. Even across the distance, the caravans' radiance

    Kept guiding us until we reached him.

  45. We rode mature camels with hardened legs;

    At night the music of their bells delighted them.

  46. Their leaders wore bells as they traveled;

    Their hooves struck sparks from stones beneath the heavy night.

  47. Their necks served in place of their drivers,

    And their padded feet in place of torches.

  48. The lean riding camels marveled that they had reached

    You, after crying out at the long stages.

  49. They drank only water that

    Your generosity made flow for them through every dusty, barren place.

  50. And they grazed safely in the open country

    Beside the groves you had brought forth.

  51. Your works have filled the whole earth;

    No land's neck lacks their adornment.

  52. Your pious removal of injustices has increased

    Your abundant giving of generous gifts.

  53. Obligatory duties are not fully performed

    Unless a man joins them with voluntary good deeds.

  54. You are generous: how many seekers of wealth have you enriched,

    And how many petitioners without any means!

  55. You made safety so widespread that a fearful person is hard to find,

    And gave so much that a petitioner is hard to find.

  56. These are the gifts of a noble man whose two pavilions are thronged,

    And the courage of a brave man with broad arms.

  57. His people do not acknowledge their hands as their own

    Unless they are extended with favors.

  58. When their right hands grasp reins,

    Generosity passes to their left hands.

  59. Ahmad ibn al-Fadl acquires nothing except

    Praise for his days and virtuous deeds.

  60. A man of resolve, he acts rather than talks

    When those who only talk are condemned.

  61. Generosity and ruin he sends through the world at all times:

    His black pens and white sword blades bring them.

  62. He has a glorious forebear from whom people seek strength,

    And a just patron who protects what is right.

  63. His forebear's earnest excellence guarded religion and worldly life for us;

    An earnest man is unlike one who idles.

  64. In his forbearance he closed his eyes to offenders and pardoned them;

    A truly wise man is unlike one who merely pretends.

  65. May you remain for the horizons of human excellence

    A lofty sky filled with stars of noble qualities.

  66. May you be blessed as rain that falls through all time:

    You give what you possess, while guarding your honor.

  67. I see the scout of hopes in you bringing news

    Of a matter for which time seems to stretch expectantly.

  68. It is only a resolve of yours drawn like a sword

    To strengthen right or humble falsehood.

  69. May justice return and embrace all people, as

    Oppression now embraces them—far be it from you!

  70. If God protects you, then protect His servants;

    Shelter them, and God will shelter you from every terror.

  71. You have risen above the thing by which people

    Forever seek greatness, though their ranks differ.

  72. The work they seek now seeks you;

    Gain from it a glory no one else can attain.

  73. People know that my words are true,

    And one who knows his fortune is unlike one who does not.

  74. The sultan of sultans has placed you in a rank

    That strains the endurance of every rival and envious man.

  75. A robe of honor came to you from him, at which

    The hearts of hostile contenders fell away.

  76. He clothed you, while you clothe the House of God; long have

    The kings of the tribes stood above people in honor.

  77. Yet that distinction, with your glory towering so high,

    Is but a small token beside it.

  78. But, for the ruler while he is away from home, it is

    One sign of his sincere affection.

  79. Let people rejoice that you have been spared death

    And that time has cast your enemies into fatal blows.

  80. The loss of a lowly man does not harm humanity, as God judges,

    If one of high worth lives for the people.

  81. Shooting stars fall every night,

    While the light of full moons endures.

  82. You are never disappointed by God in any state,

    For you never consent to disappoint one who hopes in you.

  83. Your helper is the One whose religion you help;

    He suffices you against the world's turns of misfortune.

  84. Whoever helps and supports God's servants

    Will not be forsaken by the Lord of servants.

Sol 6