1. Lightning lit al-ʿAqīq with its blaze,

    stripping the night of the gloom of its darkness.

  2. With its flash as it passed by night, it reminded me

    of the light of the pledge-breaker's smile.

  3. A beloved's mouth: when it flashes against

    his dusky lips, the lover returns to his madness.

  4. Slender, he wraps his sash around

    a delicate, slender waist where the sash passes.

  5. Heaviness pulls him, when he rises, from

    behind him, and lightness from in front of him.

  6. When he walks, his flanks are closely knit,

    and he sways from his crown to his foot.

  7. Distance has already come between us, as has the eastward turning

    of the mounts' breasts along its broad road.

  8. I long for him from the villages of Iraq, despite

    the remoteness of his home, while he is in his Syria.

  9. How dear to us is ʿAlwah's dwelling at

    Baṭyās, and the heights among its hills!

  10. A broad expanse of meadow whose springs flow

    from heavy, sagging clouds pouring down.

  11. In its myrtle and narcissus, it surpasses

    Naʿmān in its talh and its salam acacias.

  12. A land of wholesome soil, a fragrant height,

    and raincloud water overflowing with its coolness.

  13. Will I reach the sweet water of its watering places,

    or visit by night those dwelling in its tents?

  14. Whenever you ask about Banū Thawābah, you will be told

    by the close-woven cloud of its lasting rains.

  15. Through them the lands recover from their drought,

    as the sick man recovers from his illness.

  16. I have sworn by God, Lord of majesty and might—

    and one like me is true to his oath—

  17. and by the prayer-place and those who circle it,

    and by the sought-out Stone and those who touch it:

  18. when they crane their necks toward it, one reaches out

    with his palm, or another kisses it with his mouth—

  19. that lofty virtues took the way to Abū al-ʿAbbās,

    until they were counted among his qualities.

  20. An honored man: his humility has always,

    toward those who hope in him, increased his greatness.

  21. Neither weak in loyalty nor deficient in it,

    nor suspect in his management or mistrusted in it.

  22. No sword, keen-edged with gleaming luster,

    is sharper against calamities than his pen.

  23. He vigorously defended noble virtues,

    with the effort of one defending his wealth and blood.

  24. Sovereignty did not alter his two conditions, nor

    did the might of authority change his generosity.

  25. He stayed true to his old pledge to us,

    and the torrent flows as far as its course leads.

  26. He draws near to us in friendliness, though he is a brother

    to the star in his loftiness and his strength.

  27. When we see those who enjoy his care

    beside him, we take them for his kinsmen.

  28. And if we lodge within his protected precinct, we have

    there the safety of doves within their sanctuary.

  29. May God support him wherever he is, and never

    leave him without His bounty and His blessings.

  30. Our need is that his days endure,

    and our prayer that we be spared his loss.

  31. He has done me kindnesses, and I have a hope

    that has always rested on his pledge and his guarantees.

Sol 6.1