Sol 6.1

  1. May the deserted dwelling-traces at al-Abraqayn

    return my greeting or answer my question.

  2. When the caravan halts there, they discern

    the lovesick man's affliction and the untroubled man's health.

  3. My two friends, what ails the effacing winds, what ails them,

    and what ails these tormenting sorrows, and what ails me?

  4. Love stirred after my age-mates had forsaken youthful passion,

    and the gray at my nape drove off the wild creatures among fair women.

  5. I stripped love of all but a reproacher's persistence;

    and love's giver offers only a phantom's night visit.

  6. And with the beauty-marked woman, I am a lover

    whose passion grows from a breast untouched by love.

  7. If sound judgment returned to me, there would be a firm resolve

    by which I could love and hate as I choose.

  8. They have refused to leave affection in my companion—

    the nights time shows me, night after night.

  9. From many a weary companion I hastened my departure,

    yet the long years never gave him another like me.

  10. Most young men of this age are base;

    their scales in nobility are not heavy.

  11. When charged, for glory, with even a bird's sip,

    they prolong their sloth from boredom and fatigue.

  12. And my affliction in my poverty and its exposure

    is nothing but friendships granted no noble qualities.

  13. My friends left me to one another, until

    my strength weakened and those who cared feared my faltering.

  14. And time's desertion went on until

    my right hand expected my left's desertion on victory's morning.

  15. Yet I wield the sway of desire and fear,

    with which I charge, in might, into every fray.

  16. And time's vicissitudes spared the far-traveling verses I hold,

    to abase an enemy or exalt an ally.

  17. A man of means bids high for them, though they are cheap,

    and a man of little worth cheapens them, though they are precious.

  18. Whenever I seek refuge with the house of Murr, I find them

    my fortresses that thwart my foes' plots, and my mountains.

  19. How often they have humbled the envious and brought them

    a lowly state in place of an eminent one.

  20. When I travel away from them for a night or the next,

    I recognize my exile in the yearning cries of my camels.

  21. How can I leave them, when their cords,

    when they trace their lineage, are knotted to mine?

  22. We have fixed our souls, in hope of Ibn Muslim,

    upon the twin steady rains of bounty and gifts.

  23. The Arabs' young champion, intent on securing their glory,

    though its pillars had already signaled collapse.

  24. He has a core of generosity that his cheerful face reveals,

    just as a sword's markings emerge through polishing.

  25. Close at hand—until it comes to generosity;

    an enemy of buildings—until they are heights of honor.

  26. His merit has never fallen below his share,

    even if he gains the highest ascent and attainment.

  27. Among the people, he is looked to for what rain cannot match,

    while some among them are not looked to for even a drop.

  28. He is foremost among them in perfecting the gear of war,

    and the brightest there in the blaze of wicks.

  29. Squadrons of horse, following horse, led by

    tall lances dealing thrusts, lance after lance.

  30. They broke every band by the two rivers,

    and ranged over every field by the two rivers.

  31. And they scoured both flanks of Herat in quest

    of killing and combat at its gates.

  32. And they hastened al-Naziki's death with a blow

    that showed him death in headlong haste.

  33. And al-Khujistani brought forth an affair whose

    consequences revealed a lesson and exemplary punishment.

  34. Victories bestowed on the sovereign left no avenue

    for evil, nor any inciter to error.

  35. We met you on the day of battle, a lion of the forest,

    and watched you on the day of generosity, lightning in a raincloud.

  36. Bashir has served you as he has, and you can see

    the standing of your nearest kin and clients.

  37. They rein in their striving before him; they cannot match him

    in words when they vie, nor in deeds.

  38. Your approval, won through lofty judgment and argument,

    and sincere counsel reserved for you alone, is precious.

  39. He deems the better of his two fortunes the one plainly returning

    to you with adornment and beauty.

  40. If a punishment from you came first in his case,

    you have indeed followed it with bounty.

  41. And you honored him until his rank rose above the stars,

    with the amplest prestige that can be borrowed, and wealth.

  42. Abu Talha, your two hands have risen high, and you have always

    been aided in your wars by a lofty blade.

  43. The sovereign chose you only to place his trust

    in a man who does the work of many men.

  44. And appointed you, knowing that you, rather than they,

    are guardian of those noble deeds and their governor.

  45. On the morning you entered glory, none rose

    by fortune above that ascent, however high he climbed.

  46. And they had massed around al-Maragha for a time,

    for killing and combat at its gates.

  47. And left no wish in Ardabil unsatisfied

    for seekers of revenge, drinking their fill of blood.

  48. And it gladdens me that you never lack wealth,

    and that is only because your wealth is mine.

Sol 6.1