Sol 6.1

  1. God be praised for Suwayqa's days—how fresh they were!

    When desert folk lived there beside the townsfolk.

  2. I have not forgotten them; the utmost one in love can do

    Is revive his longing, or remember.

  3. Truly, ever ready for longing is he who is ceaselessly

    Stirred to yearning by the phantom whenever it comes by night.

  4. You know how many a gratefully received visit

    Came from a visitor who bestowed a precious gift without knowing.

  5. The talebearers were absent, and a quest grew easy that night;

    Had they been present on its path, it would have grown rugged.

  6. Sleep was the eyes' portion; I never imagined

    That hearts had their own portion in sleep.

  7. A tear clung to the tear ducts, and still

    Love's torment stirred it with longing until it flowed.

  8. She rose, promising me union, to put me to the test,

    Joyful; and the wish of one born blind is to see.

  9. You promised us a second draught, yet gave us no first;

    Time cannot complete a year before completing a month.

  10. By God, since I first saw, I have seen no night like mine

    At al-Ilth, save my night at Ukbara.

  11. I love the darkness, and to enjoy it long, although

    Morning has lifted its veil or unveiled its face.

  12. Our night-traveling mounts clung to the Tigris,

    Watching it for water as the night journey fades.

  13. And when they emerge from al-Rafif, we are

    Likely to leave Iraq and forsake it.

  14. The noble have grown few, so their peerless ones grow many;

    Indeed, a thing may grow scarce until it grows abundant.

  15. The shabbiest of your two friends is he who, once he detects

    The days changing toward you, changes too.

  16. My dear brother, if the eager man had turned his reins

    To miss what escaped him, that would not be his to decree.

  17. Shun the baser objects of ambition, and be content with me

    In this affair, where I am given time to choose.

  18. If some land casts me toward Ishaq ibn Kundajiq,

    Then all the game is in the belly of the wild ass.

  19. Or if the mounts bring me to him, the time has come

    For one tossed about the earth to reflect.

  20. A sea of bounty: whenever merchandise is brought to him

    Of poetry, its precious ware is soon purchased.

  21. If he cuts a strip, he never misses a joint;

    Or speaks, he succeeds; or pours forth, he flows abundantly.

  22. A promise is like fresh foliage, amid which

    The boughs sway; their fulfillment is that it should bear fruit.

  23. We praise him, and our praise has never been

    A borrowed utterance, nor a fabricated tale.

  24. I said only what I knew; I was merely

    A son of roaming the earth: I was asked, and gave my account.

  25. Thanks come after gifts; never would

    The earth's growth spread until you rained upon it.

  26. Open-faced, his cheerfulness shines before his gifts;

    And cheerfulness is the fairest thing you contemplate or see.

  27. The share you have been given is not complete

    Until the eye delights in the sight of it.

  28. From a mine of nobility, whose damask sheen

    Gleams in the face of one radiant in ancestry,

  29. And from a Khaganic root in kingship,

    Luxuriant in its branches and noble in its stock.

  30. How fitting for the bearer of two swords—or believe in him—

    To wield both swords until they grow weary.

  31. No finger's breadth was added beyond his due,

    To make a rival's patience fail or leave him vexed.

  32. He was invested with the two swords solely for valor;

    And war demands that he be invested with another.

  33. He has been given the crown, wearing it anew

    In both states: made king and made commander.

  34. If he was promoted for his worth, what claim has one

    Who remains resentful night and morning that he was passed over?

  35. The beads did not disown one familiar with a crest,

    Who among the Khazars occupies the crests and heights.

  36. His honor grew in Iraq, added to what

    They had known at al-Bayda or at Balanjar.

  37. Like a crescent he appeared, and never ceased to undergo

    The nights' shaping, until he became a full moon.

  38. Ali fulfilled his duty, opening a way in

    For affairs amid difficulties, and a way out.

  39. He shamed your enemy openly and secretly,

    And spared you the care of your affairs, governing and directing.

  40. Welcomed wherever he came, you would think—

    So welcome was he to the soul—that he came bearing glad tidings.

Sol 6.1