1. Who will defend me, for loving you, against a censurer who, whenever

    I complain of love, scorches me with reproach?

  2. No—by your father—I have not squandered good sense,

    Nor have I committed anything blameworthy in loving you.

  3. I am blamed for loving you; it is not just

    That, when I love one like you, I should be blamed.

  4. You have forbidden lawful union with me,

    And made lawful the forbidden act of forsaking me.

  5. Look upon me again with the gaze of one seeking recompense,

    Who seeks reward or shrinks from sin's punishment.

  6. You will see a burning liver and an eye

    Kept sleepless, and a heart distraught with love.

  7. Alwa's dwelling has grown distant after being near;

    Is there a band of riders to bear her my greetings?

  8. And her phantom has renewed reproach and rebuke,

    For it visits us only now and then.

  9. And many a night I have spent being served

    Wine by her eyes and her hands.

  10. We passed the night in kisses and embraces,

    And spent it all in clasping and holding close.

  11. And she knows that I have not broken

    A pledge to her, nor betrayed a covenant.

  12. Even if our dwelling has come to be in Iraq,

    Eastward, while her dwelling lies in Syria,

  13. Yet I have developed for her nothing but affection,

    And have only grown more ardently in love with her.

  14. Ja'far's caliphate is justice and security,

    And forbearance that has never ceased to embrace mankind.

  15. Wondrous in his noble deeds—you see before him

    The necks of wealth utterly crushed.

  16. When he bestows full moons, you see a face

    That in its beauty you take for the moon at its fullest.

  17. He has no need to vie in glory or eminence,

    Too exalted to be rivaled in glory or eminence.

  18. You have flooded mankind with beneficence and excellence,

    And with surpassing favors and vengeance.

  19. We count as yours the giving of water and the place of prayer,

    And the corners of the Kaaba and the Station:

  20. Noble honors you have weighed against Thabir,

    And not fallen short; through them you have towered above Shimam.

  21. And the caliphs, were they ever to race against you,

    Would not catch up with you in judgment or resolve.

  22. Are you not the broadest of them in bounty, and the purest

    Of them in stock, and the keenest of them in sword?

  23. And were the imams gathered in one place,

    With you among them, you would be their imam.

  24. Whoever defies your command disobeys God,

    And whoever denies your right will meet sin's punishment.

  25. Nor is he a Muslim who does not put first

    Allegiance to you, even if he prays and fasts.

  26. You have brandished along the flanks of every frontier

    The edges of gleaming swords and upright spears.

  27. And you advanced, though advancing entails hardship,

    Into engulfing perils that are stormed headlong.

  28. O God's trustee, may you remain safe for us,

    And may you long enjoy safety and lasting life.

  29. I see al-Mutawakkiliyya; exalted have become

    Its beauties, and it has attained utter perfection.

  30. Palaces glittering like the stars,

    They all but light the darkness for the night traveler.

  31. And a plain like a brocaded mantle, where

    Buttercup blossoms and lavender lie spread.

  32. When spring gleams upon it, it is clothed by

    The morning showers of rain clouds and the gentle breeze

  33. With wondrous varieties of plants, bearing

    A harvest of blossoms, single and paired.

  34. Morning sunlight smiles with them at times, and at times

    The rain pours down upon them in abundance.

  35. And even if no cloud poured down upon them

    With its first fresh showers, you would be their cloud.

Sol 6.1