1. Was it your glance that slashed my heart, or a sword?

    And was it your utterance that seized my mind, or speech?

  2. And is it your stature, or a bough in a sand dune?

    And is it your saliva, or well-aged wine?

  3. And is it your mouth, or gleaming pearls,

    beautifully strung, which a smile reveals?

  4. And your face beneath the night of hair is a full moon,

    over which darkness has spread its wing.

  5. Whenever you sway in pride, a spear is brandished,

    which your figure aims to pierce me.

  6. It suffices me that I pass the evening tormented

    by your love, neither lulling anyone to sleep nor sleeping.

  7. And a Turk, as though his mouth held wine,

    whose seal is the musk of his breath.

  8. Then why is it lawful, in love of him, to kill me

    deliberately—and why is union with me forbidden?

  9. He captured me, though he is an owned slave;

    and how many a free man has been possessed by a boy!

  10. He chose to forget my companionship and my pledge's sanctity;

    among the Turks, no pledge is honored.

  11. Through his narrow eyelids I broadened my excuse;

    then excuse and blame alike left me.

  12. He answers 'no'; ah, would that from me

    and him an alif and a lam might intertwine!

  13. The one I love has a merciful arrogance,

    a baleful one; and passion is my creditor.

  14. O people, help! That gazelle, ransomed

    with my soul, is a gazelle beyond reach.

  15. His waist is barren, while his rump

    is fertile; its clasp never breaks.

  16. By tying his belt, he untied the bonds of my patience;

    so it retreats from my sorrowful heart.

  17. When he dons the helmet, there circles

    over his mouth a veil of chain mail.

  18. There he leaves the champions fallen,

    with glances whose languor carries sickness.

  19. Did he flee the gardens of Eden when

    Riḍwān dozed, or is my state a dream?

  20. As though pomegranate blossom were upon his cheeks;

    from it comes most of my fire and blaze.

  21. I say to my yearning heart, tormented

    by him—sorrowful and maddened by love—

  22. by one whose mention delights me, as though

    Zunām were exchanging melodies with Maʿbad before me:

  23. His glances are arrows; never do the arrows miss

    the targets of his eyebrow's bow.

  24. Like the bow of al-Ashraf, the king in whom hopes rest,

    from it death flies toward the foes.

  25. Whenever he strings it in his right hand,

    the cloud hides its own bow from him in shame.

  26. His generous deeds are awake at every hour;

    how many people's generous deeds lie asleep!

  27. Seekers of his bounty circle at his gate,

    as though the gate were Zamzam and the Maqām.

  28. The hollow of his palm is wont to gush;

    the back of his hand is wont to receive reverent touches.

  29. They crowd to kiss it,

    as they crowd at the Corner.

  30. The water of modesty is seen upon his cheeks,

    and the imam drinks his fill from his hand's harvest.

  31. The kings of earth follow him in prayer, each one

    praying behind him, while he is mankind entire.

  32. Through his firm resolves, soon they will see

    their deaths draw near—the vile Georgians.

  33. They are asses braying for fear of the roar of the

    lions; to the birds, they are food.

  34. Virile, Indian-forged blades cast them down

    upon their chins, and the blows come in pairs.

  35. His sword's fire has both heat and an edge;

    through both, they are scorched and annihilated.

  36. Bearing him, a Burāq darts through battle, or

    lightning's foremost wing-feathers, driven by the charge.

  37. Iraq and the people of Egypt longed for him,

    as did Mosul, al-ʿAwāṣim, and al-Shām.

  38. Generous—never have the generous found their way to what

    we have witnessed of his noble deeds.

  39. He turns the mill of wars and braves their fire;

    within them, he is a noble, valiant champion.

  40. And the most skillful of those who strike with a drawn sword,

    when, through his skill, the battlefield grows hot.

  41. He has no equal in lofty ranks

    except King al-Muʿaẓẓam—and that is all.

  42. They are mankind's two kings, and each of them

    alone, on battle day, is a vast army.

  43. Lions flee from them in fear, just

    as grazing herds flee from lions,

  44. hurrying away with their cubs in flight,

    as ostriches flee with their chicks.

  45. They are two brothers whose affection is sound

    when sickness taints other affections.

  46. Did not the Holy House, when it was

    held sacred, possess standing among kings?

  47. And King al-Muʿaẓẓam has noble deeds

    of which great reports circulate among humankind.

  48. Whenever his fingers rain bounty upon a land,

    there is no hunger there, nor burning thirst.

  49. There is no king but Mūsā and ʿĪsā

    and Sayf al-Dīn—and the speech is ended.

  50. Favors have spread throughout mankind and become

    the collars, while people are the doves.

  51. To you, Muẓaffar al-Dīn—listen to it:

    strung in verse, of which composition itself is proud.

  52. A man has gifted it to you, spared the need

    to seek anyone else by your immense favors.

Sol 6.1