Sol 6.1

  1. Recovery has visited, and these are its traces;

    they have appeared upon him, so his lights have shone.

  2. His suns have risen as the friend wished,

    and his moons have appeared in defiance of his enemies' schemes.

  3. How wondrous is joy's returning visitor, for she

    has returned, and the sky has shed its dust.

  4. She visited as a lover visits his beloved,

    and as a gracious neighbor comes to visit his neighbor.

  5. The reaches of the world grew lovely at her arrival,

    in delight, so its nightingale sang aloud.

  6. And the gardens in it grew exquisite, as though

    their blossoms on recovery's day were his lights.

  7. And the pools overflowed from him, as though

    their rivers beneath the darkness were his daylight.

  8. God bless you, O Health! Enfold

    Salman; you are his inner garment and his outer cloak.

  9. A man, as though God had fashioned his essence

    as kindness, that His mysteries might appear among humankind,

  10. and built the domes of glory above his domes,

    so his glory rose above the crowns of renown,

  11. and arrayed him in an adornment: were it shaped

    into a person, its cheek-down would vaunt itself over beauty.

  12. A nature gentler than the breeze, and a way of life

    that reports of him have carried among humankind.

  13. He overlooks grit in the eye as a noble man does,

    in forgiveness; modesty and his dignity restrain him.

  14. And he rises above an offense, not inquiring

    about it when a stranger or his neighbor stumbles.

  15. O son of noble chieftains, and O master

    whose ancestry and stock come from the foremost of Himyar!

  16. Never was counted among all the ranks of perfection

    a bygone company without you being its finest.

  17. And by your grandsire's life, no speaker ever spoke

    in his praise without you being his watchword.

  18. Necks grew tall through you when you garlanded them

    with bounty—who, then, is Kisra, and where is his bracelet?

  19. And you held the world in bondage by its own free will,

    so through your bounty its free men became your slaves.

  20. And among your fellow men you followed a path

    whose stages you raised above the highest heights.

  21. And you built a house of generosity; Hatim

    and all the lords of bounty are its visitors.

  22. And you attained such a height in knowledge of sacred law

    that its fire has burned the astrologer's knots.

  23. And you spread al-Shafi'i's jurisprudence among us, with no

    favor held over him, for these are his works.

  24. Forgive me, for I possess a discerning mind;

    not a tenth of the praise it offers has reached you.

  25. I have been distracted by horrors—may you be spared their harm—

    time's tyranny, its stinginess, and its humiliation.

  26. But it has sought refuge with you and with your house,

    a house whose neighbor is protected from misfortunes.

Sol 6.1