Sol 6.1

  1. When the cloud is urged on by night-roaming lightning,

    And pours from a dark cloud of steady, abundant rain,

  2. And its brightness, at times, and its darkness weave

    What they weave from two patterns of meadow and blossoms,

  3. Then may it drench your land in western al-Samawah, among

    Lands, and your dwelling at al-Alya, among dwellings.

  4. And though you are miserly, there is neither union nor a gift,

    Save an oft-visiting phantom of you finding its way to me.

  5. Indeed, the night-roaming moon baffled me, so I could not

    Distinguish its face from your night-roaming phantom.

  6. For it rivaled the full moon in beauty and in form,

    And rose beside the full moon, matching its time and size.

  7. A night passed, and I did not attain my wish

    For a meeting, nor did I fulfill my desires.

  8. If I have newly added to my twofold love for you a surge of passion,

    A second passion that increases my yearning and remembrance,

  9. For long has my course run through youth's waywardness,

    And my recklessness and risk-taking in love have grown fierce.

  10. A passion whose traces I erase with another passion,

    Like one quenching the blaze of fire with fire.

  11. God has indeed doubled the world's beauties

    Through the rule of one selected, chosen for kingship,

  12. Noble on both sides among the sons of al-Abbas, when their lineage is traced

    Among stars and moons renowned among them.

  13. The radiance of his brow shows you the morning sun

    When he shines forth in cheerfulness and brightness.

  14. He granted his subjects bliss after misery

    That had engulfed them, and ease after hardship.

  15. You rescued them, O God's trusted one, snatching them away,

    While they stood on the crumbling brink of their affairs.

  16. They granted them contentment through Ibn Yazdad, so they took refuge

    In him, a champion of justice, firm in command.

  17. He restored what was wrongfully taken and plucked the weak to safety, though

    The ravening lion's gullet was already choking on him.

  18. He heals the wound inflicted by men; already bloodied are

    Their savage fangs and claws.

  19. He pleases you as steward of affairs, seeking

    Sincere service, and swift in receiving and dispatching.

  20. So may God preserve Abd Allah; his are

    Preeminence in generosity and nobility's spark-kindling firestick.

  21. His benefactions and favors toward me have flourished,

    Just as my praises and poems in his honor have flourished.

  22. Enough, Abu Salih! The sea traces its descent

    To your bounty in flow and abundance.

  23. Your giving mirrors its bounty and its brimming waters,

    Flood for flood, and torrent for torrent.

  24. Should I dread time or fear its changes,

    When al-Musta'in is my helper through it, or my protecting neighbor?

  25. And you are who you are in supporting and protecting me,

    Long since, and in insisting on my advancement and preferment.

  26. Then how can you delay my affairs and be heedless of

    My share, and consent to abandon me and break your pledge of protection?

  27. Arrange my current allowance as a favor,

    As you arranged my continuing stipend for me.

Sol 6.1