Sol 6.1

  1. Let her travel, and do not weary of the night journey.

    Crossing the way-stations and open land has stirred her longing.

  2. Do not forbid her what she desires, for she

    has recalled a verdant life in al-Fayha.

  3. Do not give her a trickle to drink; instead lead her

    after thirst, to oceans among the house of Yusuf—

  4. those who pitch their pavilions upon generosity

    and lavish yellow gold within them.

  5. Their wealth is freely given, and their dwellings—

    above them they have kindled the fire of hospitality.

  6. They rose from the heights to towering glory,

    so they towered in rank and delighted the eye.

  7. I knew for certain their dwellings were part of Paradise

    when there I drank the limpid waters of Kawthar.

  8. They became stars of leadership, and now

    their news is carried to Umm al-Qura.

  9. They settled on al-Fayha’s heights, until they sent forth

    into every region a shining light from among them.

  10. They dispelled the darkness of difficult matters with their judgment,

    until the night of governance became moonlit.

  11. You have found none like their Khidr in dispelling calamities,

    when glory clothed him in a green mantle.

  12. He cuts through affairs with a blade drawn from his mind,

    sharper than a keen-edged sword when he steps forth.

  13. He runs and outstrips every swift colt;

    what is Rustam amid crises when he races?

  14. The souls of those seeking his gifts have known his bounty,

    so they traversed land for him and waded through seas.

  15. A lord: when his hand holds the reed pen,

    it takes an army’s place if a calamity strikes.

  16. He casts a stern injunction upon the face of the page,

    thus resolving a difficulty and repelling wrongdoing.

  17. His generous deeds now go forth at evening and at dawn,

    like rain that comes afresh, again and again.

  18. Generous Khidr has favored me with a lean racehorse,

    so I have come to take that racehorse from him.

  19. And I compose rare verses and praise for the lavish giver,

    for he has made noble deeds his pulpit.

  20. He welcomes guests, his face radiant,

    like a garden awaiting rain-bearing clouds.

  21. A gallant man whose generosity visitors receive,

    while the lions of al-Shara fear his fierce might.

  22. And Muhammad, a scion of noble men, who possesses

    an honorable soul and a fruitful hand—

  23. the keen blade of glory, with whom we confront

    the reversals of time when it rages and tyrannizes.

  24. You find him beneath his helmet, radiant,

    so you imagine that he is the Pleiades upon the earth.

  25. And the rest of the virtuous men from his domains—

    each rivals the rain in bounty when it flows.

  26. May the fates ever raise their rank,

    as long as a star moves in the sky and journeys by night.

Sol 6.1