سرى من خيال المالكية ما سرى — Albohtry

A phantom of al-Malikiyya stole through the night,

Then enslaved this tormented heart with love and kept it awake.

A nearness in slumber's dreams from a distant woman,

Who wrongs us in her deeds, yet is lovely to behold.

She drew near as a phantom only to depart,

Nor granted union in sleep except to forsake me.

She has indeed withheld union; withholding is her nature,

Yet had she granted union, she would have been more capable of it.

Union with her proved unattainable, though union was possible;

And fair women's favor is marred by being unattainable.

So had this heart wished, in its earliest youth,

It would have held back from some youthful passion, or desisted altogether.

But there was a passion from which I found no refuge,

And a watering place of love from which I found no way out:

A love once tender between us, in earlier days,

Like the clouds' first autumn rain, which fell early.

I looked, my sides drawn together as I turned,

And the yearning lover turns only to gaze,

At crimson lightning, which, whenever

The upper clouds grew leopard-mottled, turned safflower-colored.

It lights a bright cloud above Bityas,

Which gleams, and a green meadow beneath Bityas.

And it would indeed have been dear to me, had it

Lit a dusky gazelle beside Bityas.

Al-Mu'tazz billah was indeed granted a blessing

From God, too great to be bounded or measured.

Through him God rescued humankind from a great calamity

That had settled upon Islam for a year and months,

And from a raging strife whose darkness shrouded

The horizon until it became dust-dark and murky.

He was aided by the retainers' swords and their endurance

In the face of death, when they confronted red death.

Bright-browed among kings: whenever you see him,

You see Abu Ishaq and the great lord Ja'far.

His share in the right to the caliphate took precedence,

When another was turned away from it and fell behind.

His preeminence, rather than theirs, becomes acknowledged,

And what those farther removed claim is rejected.

He raised the beacon of truth, until people found guidance by it,

And those who had never seen before beheld it.

And the benefits of his bounty returned to the world,

So all that had turned away from it came forward.

With forbearance that seemed to lend the earth its gravity,

And generosity from which the sea seemed to gush forth.

May you live long and safe, Commander of the Faithful,

For the life of bounty and generosity lies in your long life.

Nor can glory, praise, and eminence be safeguarded

In their entirety, until you are protected and supported.

So generous were you that the rain was shorter in reach,

And narrower in span than your bounty, and shorter still.

And when you took charge of the populace with kindness,

You kept the outermost of its flock from being driven away.

You took up the burdens of the caliphate, equal to them,

And have ever been its hoped-for and awaited one.

So when you strove for it, you did not strive to hinder it,

And when you shot in its defense, you did not shoot short.

And always, when you made peace, you were favored with success,

Rightly guided; and when you waged war, you were victorious.

If you surpassed the imams' utmost goals, taking the lead,

Then you towered above kings as ruler and administrator.

No wonder, then, that they ebb while you rise,

Nor is it strange that they diminish while you increase.

And al-Abbas and his son have indeed left in your keeping

Glories that overtopped the star's reach, until it grew bewildered.

They both bequeathed you Dhu al-Fiqar, and handed over

To you the staff and the ornamented mantle.

What splendor is there, then, whose excellence you do not deserve,

Being more entitled to it than anyone alive, and more deserving?

And you are the son of one who gave the pilgrims water in their thirst,

And in drought implored the clouds, and they gave rain.