إذا عرضت أحداج سلمى فنادها — Albohtry

If Salma's howdahs come into view, call to her:

May the clouds' morning showers water you with their returning downpours.

Is there no pause in which a lover's longing is fulfilled,

or one circling in thirst is quenched by its lingering?

I wished—and is a man's soul to be blamed

when it is denied its wishes in love?—

that Sulayma would be gentle, or that

my heart were lent some solace from hers.

The spiteful speak profusely of her, while between us

stand barriers of Salma and her Birk Ghimad.

And we are envied because, from love, there steal upon us

afterpains whose return brings back heartache.

How often they vied over a burning grief after parting

that marvels at our sighs and their length,

and over a night when we sold to the night visitor of longing for her

the sleep of eyes stricken by their sleeplessness.

Al-Muhtadi bi'llah has come forth, with rain reckoned

among his virtues, or added to their number.

Through him we praised the course of nights, and there shone

for us the faces of days after their darkening.

Whenever hopes return to him, there follow in succession

gifts, his favors repeated and bestowed anew.

He has left reprovers unable to overtake

gifts that outrun glances before they return.

The caliphate hastened to seek him, longing

for him with its fullest purpose and commitment.

It did not cling to him by blind groping in the dark,

but chose him after its searching.

An imam: when he carries affairs through, they proceed

along their straight and rightful course.

Whenever he dons al-Sahab as a turban, it is wound upon

one worthy of it, who claims the legacy of its blackness.

And if he girds on Dhu al-Fiqar, he is likened to

Quraysh's brave warrior in battle, and its generous one.

He vies with his own soul in reverence for God; it has left

him no further goal in its earnestness and striving.

His is a resolve whose success kingship has never found slow,

nor has Islam faulted the kindling of its fire-sticks.

When supported by counsel, its sound choice is clear;

and if the counselor departs, it suffices by itself.

Rashidi in its stock, Wathiqi—

God sees the preference for piety among its provisions.

The caliphate has changed no trait in him,

though it has placed its reins under his forceful command.

Nor did the world sway him when it presented itself

to him in the fullness of its beauty and abundance.

Surely the devoted worshiper's prayer rug is lovelier to behold

than a crown with its jewels and their blazing brilliance.

And wool is surely fitter for imams than cloths of

silk, though they charm with their saffron dye.

You returned the gifts of Mihrjan, though it was not the way

of wealthy souls to part freely with their gains.

And you openly opposed the festivals of those who lead astray;

but for your careful pursuit of guidance, you would not have opposed them.

And the pilgrimage road was secured for the companies that

hastened toward it from near and far.

So you eased—deserving thanks—the duty of their pilgrimage,

whereas they had counted pilgrimage part of their struggle.

You safeguarded lands where Musa, with his army, remained

your guarantor in their good order and their disorder.

If a band strays and displays its mass

in rebellion against the realm, he strikes into its midst.

And if enemies spend the night outside his lands,

his dreaded assault descends upon them in their own lands.

The people of the West have grown ambitious: strike with resolve

at Iram, since it has resisted, and at its pillars.

So the clamor of al-Arish may fall quiet, and

Palestine cease its disobedience and defiance.

For how much clamor lies there beneath a hush,

and how many an ember is hidden in its ashes!

And the people's eyes are not blind to that,

but these are crops that have ripened for harvest.

What is it but a sortie by a valiant man,

who brings cavalry to it at evening, if not at dawn?

Battalions whose sharpest weapon is God's aid,

and whose greatest provision is ready reverence for God.

Upon them ride horsemen from the fierce retainers;

the count of al-Batha's pebbles falls short of their number.

May it gladden you that they said: Muflih's detachment—

the blows of its sword-fighting severed the rebels' necks.

And his cavalry pursued them at al-Thudayyayn,

so the defenders of unbelief lay felled by its pursuit.

May you endure, Commander of the Faithful, and may

your life exhaust time's lifespan before its own is spent.

And may the world always have splendor and delight,

increasing under your reign for as long as its growth endures.

I shall give thanks for a benefactor's blessings in your bounty:

I found all my new wealth drawn from their long-held store.