Sol 6.1

  1. Repent, my reproacher, of blaming me, and be ashamed.

    For my heart will not turn away from my passion.

  2. I am smitten with a slender one, like a bough of the bān tree, who from

    his black eyelids has unsheathed white blades.

  3. The coolness of his dusky lips lodged pain in my heart,

    and the gleam of his pearly teeth left me no wealth.

  4. He revealed charms envied by the

    graceful maidens, though they be amorous virgins.

  5. Their magnet never scented my heart

    without it nearly leaping from my ribs.

  6. Ah, how lovely our spirits, clad

    in our wine beneath the fragrant herbs of rapture!

  7. And we persisted in our evening drinking and our

    morning drinking, fearing no fang of calamity.

  8. And life was unclouded, and hopes fresh in

    their qualities, ripe dates falling from them.

  9. And whenever the beloved parted his lips, laughing,

    our cups smiled, revealing bubbles.

  10. He showed you these pearls in ruby, strung

    together, and these pearls upon gold.

  11. He matches the rose with a rose like it,

    from his cheeks, whether sober or drinking.

  12. He extends white fingers toward the cup,

    and his fingers grow tipsy from it, stained.

  13. One fears for the cupbearer when he dilutes it

    in the cup, lest he catch fire from its rays.

  14. Our nights departed, cherished; how much

    pleasure and desire they folded away from us!

  15. So our breaths were left ascending,

    at their loss, and our tears pouring downward.

  16. Perhaps time will make a return

    with them, clearing doubt and misgiving from us,

  17. as it endowed splendid leadership, in

    Mu'ayyid al-Din, with a capable, chosen man:

  18. with the openhanded, shrewd, keen-witted,

    the vigorous, sterling, chosen one.

  19. Under the happiest star it came to As'ad,

    striking enemies with the arrow of an evil end.

  20. May it rejoice that it gained, and was not bereft

    of him, with earnestness far removed from play.

  21. A chiefship he supplied with ample statesmanship,

    seeking God's reward, not personal gain.

  22. And it has always shone in his bearing

    since he was a child, like watered patterns in swords.

  23. It grew through him when marked with his glory,

    so it gazes toward al-Jawza' from close at hand.

  24. The people rejoiced in him, and all said:

    'We had been waiting for a day like this!'

  25. Now generosity has become flourishing among us,

    built high, though long ago it lay in ruins.

  26. Noble achievements have no way to do without him,

    for they claim descent from Abu al-Ma'ali.

  27. His pens contain doom and hopes,

    hidden, and the taste of bitter sap and honey.

  28. We draw out thoughts while he is writing—

    white meanings from the blackness of what he wrote.

  29. Were Ibn Muqla's eye to see him, the

    scribe would cry aloud, 'What a marvel!

  30. These are strung pearls, without

    a doubt; my script beside it is like imitation pearls.'

  31. And if Ibn al-'Amid saw you composing prose,

    O Ibn al-'Amid, he would be left cut off from his lineage,

  32. and say, ''Abd al-Hamid was not like this;

    can the nab' tree ever be compared with the willow?'

  33. Abu al-Ma'ali, you are the most brilliant of all who have written

    and all who have undertaken poetry and oratory.

  34. Here I am, like one making a gift to Baghdad from

    Damascus, when I recite: dates, dried or fresh.

  35. The acknowledgment of all people suffices you:

    you are the best son to come from the best father.

  36. This office has been favored, in you, with a man

    for whom Time rose and stood erect:

  37. with one who, whenever he draws the sword of his resolve,

    drives the clamorous army backward through awe of him;

  38. with one who turns the fang of my resolve aside,

    away from me, when it extends an arm and leaps.

  39. So his honor is in a sanctuary, but his wealth

    lies plundered by the supplicants' raids.

  40. A refiner of character, he makes it needless

    to drink the clarified juice of grapes.

  41. His traits praise him just as

    the garden's fragrance praises the voice of clouds.

  42. Whoever claims an equal to him in our age,

    on any day, has incurred falsehood and lies.

  43. The ablest of the able, east and west,

    and the best-born of non-Arabs and Arabs.

  44. Noble achievements raised him,

    wondrous in description, to the highest ranks.

  45. So this state—may its shadow endure—

    sways with pride in him and with rapture.

  46. His counsels follow behind the demons of his foes,

    pelting and piercing like shooting stars.

  47. He widened for supplicants what was narrow, while

    through him, what was spacious grew narrow for the envious.

  48. The clouds of his bounty cannot bear to see

    the flowers of literature withered by thirst.

  49. And Time has become obedient to his command;

    if Time disobeyed him, you would see wonders.

  50. Good fortune—his envier's hands were ruined

    by it, as Abu Lahab's hands were ruined.

  51. Mature in forbearance, judgment, and reason:

    marvel at him—mature, though not yet grown to youth.

  52. His honor is shielded from every detractor,

    but it is not shielded from fair praise.

  53. Truer in his promises than the sandgrouse,

    if a promise is mixed with deceit and falsehood.

  54. He has always been eager wherever he bore expense;

    praise gathers him in through the dispersal of wealth.

  55. Bright-faced, with a radiant brow, illustrious,

    praise sways him like one moved by rapture.

  56. He bends to his petitioner with gentleness

    toward him, as a kind, caring father bends.

  57. The lightning in the lines of his face, whenever

    it flashes, is never rainless for one who seeks.

  58. And his gate is a mighty fortress; never is

    one who seeks it made to sip successive draughts of ruin.

  59. The pulpits of praise flourish through him,

    and his fame unfurls its streamers among the people.

  60. And his praise travels as his generosity travels

    among us, embracing those far away and those near.

  61. As'ad, help me against a Time that has become

    the enemy of every virtuous person without reason.

  62. And earn praise from the sons of virtue, for you

    have always considered that an excellent gain.

  63. Gifts of gold and garments perish,

    but their gratitude lasts through the passing ages.

  64. May you be rewarded well on their behalf; whenever

    they sought rain from your bounty, it was a pouring shower.

  65. You exchanged their rags, when they had visited

    your spacious courtyard, for new robes.

  66. And you have never ceased spreading favors upon

    those who record your praise within the folds of books.

  67. So take it, sweet in fragrance, mirroring

    your mention in the assembly when glory traces its lineage.

  68. If it had reached al-Sari's ear, he would not have said:

    'Turn aside toward that nearby dune.'

Sol 6.1