Sol 6.1

  1. Before your eyes is the anguish of the captive heart,

    And the profuse flow of tears that keep streaming.

  2. And you have listened to the slanderers until

    You have leaned toward them somewhat.

  3. And had you repaid a lover for his love,

    It would have been just not to forsake me.

  4. I looked—and how often I looked!—and was struck down

    By full moons suddenly appearing upon boughs.

  5. And many a glance I turned away from

    In the intoxication of youthful dalliance, or in madness.

  6. O God, what the hearts endure—

    Bewildered by love—from the crimes of eyes!

  7. And the reproachers have despaired of a heart

    Obstinate in its waywardness, unyielding.

  8. Others may forget their loved ones, but I

    Have done my part in love's longing.

  9. And among the palaces, toward Quwayq, I have

    A dear companion I favor, who favors me.

  10. His memory comes before me at every moment,

    And his phantom visits me at every hour.

  11. Indeed, one has shouldered the caliphate, fully able

    To bear it, with his manifest right to it.

  12. He governs religion and the world with judgment

    Pleasing to God in worldly life and faith.

  13. His generosity has reached the farthest wishes,

    And his deeds have confirmed good expectations.

  14. So there is no joy or beauty in time,

    Nor any ease or gentleness in life.

  15. And al-Mu'tazz's hand was created only

    To win praise with a precious stake.

  16. His laughter frightens wealth whenever

    He rises radiant, with an open brow.

  17. O God's trustee, granted the inheritance of

    Al-Amin, and master of the secure city!

  18. Conquests have followed one another, in diverse

    Places among the foes, and of diverse kinds.

  19. So glad tidings never cease to tell of the downfall

    Of an enemy submitting to you, humbled.

  20. Al-Kawkabi's flight, while Musa's horses

    Stir up the dust of raging war.

  21. And in the land of the Daylamites, heads of the slain

    Form a necklace across its plains and rugged ground.

  22. And the Romans' great ruler has been struck by a grievous

    Calamity, severing the life-vein.

  23. Through God's grace upon you, without a doubt,

    And through your wind, the hand of death struck him down.

  24. You were granted victory over foes through foes,

    On the morning the Romans lay beneath a grinding millstone.

  25. Some of them slaughter others with blows

    That sever forearms and split the seams of skulls,

  26. As bodies there, without heads,

    Come tumbling down, and swords have no sheaths.

  27. So may you endure, and Abd Allah endure, the full moon of

    Darkness in his radiance, and life-giving rain from clouded skies.

  28. The retainers surround him when he appears,

    As they surround their fortified stronghold.

  29. You see eyes lowered before an awe-inspiring man,

    Dignified, steadfast in his majesty.

  30. A generous man whose bounty reached us before dawn,

    And who showed none of the miser's delay in giving it.

  31. I expected of him what delighted my friend,

    So expectation came before certainty.

  32. And you were my intercessor with him for a promise,

    Then became my guarantor of its fulfillment by him.

  33. And no one has tended noble deeds like a resourceful man,

    Illustrious, who regards promises as debts.

  34. You joined my cord to Yunus ibn Bugha,

    So I came to claim connection through a sturdy bond.

  35. For you have placed me in the highest station,

    Honorable, in a position made secure through you.

  36. And I do not fear that what I pursue will prove unattainable,

    Among my needs, since he has become my helper.

  37. And indeed my hand, since you have entrusted my affairs

    To him, is today in your right hand.

Sol 6.1