1. Pass over the wide-eyed wild cattle and the young gazelles,

    and the hearthstones left in the dwellings.

  2. Those are courtyards, still standing yet worn away;

    the hand of whirlwinds has assailed them.

  3. May the skittish gazelles of the wilderness ransom

    every fawn secluded in the palaces.

  4. He smiles to reveal pearls and hailstones,

    and daisies, and the radiance of light.

  5. The wine is a ruby in his palm,

    red, suspended from rods of crystal.

  6. He shames the sun whenever he appears or

    gazes with an eye wedded to languor.

  7. Damascus is like the sun; no peer to her

    is found among all depictions.

  8. She is like an adorned paradise,

    resplendent with her youths and the houris.

  9. And every branch, bearing every fruit,

    is near the fruit-gatherer, bent low.

  10. The breeze's palm rocks it with

    gentleness, revealing the shiver of one chilled.

  11. And every river has pearls for pebbles;

    melted camphor has flowed over them.

  12. Its waves are like horses on a raid,

    some routing, some breaking, and some broken.

  13. Swifter than hounds that spring—once

    they have seen game—out of their wooden collars.

  14. They cover level and rugged ground alike,

    without bucket-lifts or waterwheels.

  15. Meadows where spring has pitched its tent,

    so you do not find his heart alarmed.

  16. Her gardens are of lovely violets,

    and double-flowered narcissus and stocks.

  17. Her roses are like cheeks, dyed

    to their color by wine in glass flasks.

  18. They hold our noses and our eyes captive

    with every beauty and every fragrance.

  19. And the birds in the great trees sing and trill:

    a whistling bulbul and a blackbird,

  20. and a nightingale that, when it calls at dawn,

    brings forth David and the Psalms.

  21. Her hill is a model of Paradise's gardens,

    confirming the promise most firmly.

  22. Water courses through her, now rising,

    now standing upright, now drawn along.

  23. Her waters dance within her,

    like a minstrel gladdened by music.

  24. They scatter pearls of silver, rising

    above a carpet of dinars.

  25. Her bitter oranges are like spheres when

    they are turned from ingots of light.

  26. They gleam among the branches, amid leaves,

    green—some visible, others concealed.

  27. The water becomes a polo mallet, pursuing them

    in hope of union, like a forsaken lover's quest.

  28. How many a sword upon the pulpits of her

    cascade is drawn for the waters!

  29. Her squares and al-Sharaf

    al-A'la have no equal among all things seen.

  30. Beside her two Sharafs, Paradise's gardens are eclipsed,

    shackled in the bonds of falling short.

  31. Leave Bawwan's ravines, al-Ubulla, and the

    Iwan, and sheath Ghamdan in desolation.

  32. She has attained perfection's qualities, like the king,

    al-Salih, endowed with noble deeds and goodness.

  33. Glory to Him who adorned him with beneficence

    and beauty, in attributed accounts and transmitted lore.

  34. A king whom the neighing of steeds delights,

    with the delight of one gladdened by music.

  35. If he dons a coat of mail in battle, and the

    helmet above his luminous brow,

  36. people marvel at him as a moon

    beside which every moon is outshone.

  37. A battle-lion, with nothing but bright swords and

    arrows and tawny spears for claws.

  38. He wishes to bestow largesse upon whoever

    seeks his bounty—in qintars.

  39. He sways in his saddle, and one marvels at

    a rain-showered branch with fresh leaves.

  40. The sword in his palm has the flashing

    of lightning—keen-edged and mighty in effect.

  41. The lance's tang is watered amid terror

    by its thrusts, with the blood of towering men.

  42. All this—and his arrows fly from the

    livers in battle like sparrows.

  43. His character is lovely as gardens,

    with the blossoms they contain.

  44. You are the pillar of the world, and you are the pillar

    of religion, in truth and not falsely.

  45. Accept this ode—may you never know want—

    in poetry, its merit cannot be denied.

  46. The faces of its verses delight whenever

    they are recited, for they are like dinars.

  47. How many favors are yours, O Ismail,

    whose memory is inscribed in chronicles!

  48. You have become the greatest among kings

    in rank and renown, by Him who raised Mount Tur!

  49. Your host is the sound, regular plural; whoever

    opposes you goes forth in a broken plural.

  50. O you whose robe is the garb of exaltation,

    O you who clothe the foe in the robe of diminution!

  51. How many an enemy's resolve you have feminized,

    while you prevailed through masculinity!

  52. Remain forever in glory, governing it

    with resolve and prudence in the finest manner,

  53. as long as earth and heaven endure, until

    the Trumpet's blast arrives thereafter.

Sol 6.1