Sol 5.6

  1. You are a sword—but its two edges

    are your resolves, and its broad side is dignity.

  2. And you are a raincloud—but your generous hands

    are its downpours when the rain is withheld.

  3. And you are a lion—but the beasts of prey

    stand wary of it, so overwhelming is its awe.

  4. In you two opposites unite in glory,

    and their union is a source of pride to one who reflects:

  5. the coolness of generosity is water to those seeking favor,

    and the heat of valor is fire to enemies.

  6. And on a day when souls thirst,

    sword-edges drink their fill from its skulls;

  7. the broad desert wastes grow cramped with his cavalry,

    and dust eclipses the sun of its high morning.

  8. His spears seem long, twisted ropes

    which the wells set swaying because of their length.

  9. His birds race the steel-blue lanceheads

    toward eyes—for thrusting and victory.

  10. There the two armies matched each other, thrust for thrust

    and blow for blow, while the battle surged around him.

  11. Then with one resolute thrust you split them apart,

    a thrust whose resolve had a keenness the sword-edge itself would covet.

  12. And who can equal al-Ghiyāth when the horses stretch into full gallop—

    noble steeds—while caution itself dons armor?

  13. He hastens to the one crying for aid whenever he calls,

    and steadfast endurance abides in him beneath his banner.

  14. In the protective ardor he bears, all are alike in his eyes:

    the ease-loving man, the angry man, and the daredevil.

  15. How excellent the lodging he gives those who arrive by night,

    when the copious rainclouds withhold their abundant flow.

  16. When his enemies feel safe from his swords,

    ten-month pregnant she-camels spend the night fearing them.

  17. Thus, because of both his warfare and his hospitality, there weep

    the tribe’s child, orphaned, and the camel-calf.

  18. Deft in turning toward beneficence, sweet

    are his rejoinders when discourse runs long.

  19. His praise wafts fragrantly through every valley,

    as though the fragrance of his eulogy were itself a perfumer.

  20. Nor is any sweet-watered stream—its watering places thronged by those who come to drink—

    coursing and descending through both regions,

  21. reaching, as it passes, uplander and lowlander alike,

    though merchants fall short of attaining it,

  22. fresh in glory among noble stock at pasture,

    for whom every verdant tract is a roaming-ground,

  23. possessed of coolness and a languorous breeze

    when Sirius sets the day ablaze—

  24. any sweeter in affection than Ghiyāth al-Dīn

    when aversion embitters the peevish man.

Sol 5.6