Sol 5.6

  1. Bahāʾ al-Dīn, by the radiance of his features, outshines

    the flashes of sword-blades and the smiling cloudbank.

  2. In valor and generosity he rises above them both, through his victory

    and his bounty amid twin nights of murk and battle-dust.

  3. For war, he is an untiring, keen-edged sword;

    for drought, a brimming fount that never shrinks away.

  4. A noble hero: whenever his neighbor and a guest lodge with him,

    they are sheltered far from fear and dreadful famine.

  5. In times of peril they find in him a towering refuge,

    impregnable—and, when ruin cuts to the bone, a rain-laden cloud.

  6. So loving that water itself would covet the delicate softness of his kindness,

    while the honed edge of the keen sword stands in awe of him.

  7. He fills men’s ears with eloquence,

    and their eyes as well, whether written in script or uttered in speech.

  8. Praise sets his shoulders swaying as though it were

    cups of wine in evenings swept by the north wind.

  9. So may the feast days be blessed by his presence—with a winner,

    a terror, dreaded in his endeavors, yet the one in whom hopes are placed.

Sol 5.6