1. How did the beloved's phantom find its way to my bed,

    while night's eyelids were darkened with antimony kohl?

  2. It came to me in Damascus at night, a night-traveler,

    from Hajir—welcome to such a night-traveler!

  3. It steps over sandgrouse nests and treads

    ostrich nesting hollows on the ridges of the desert plain,

  4. and startles the ostrich chicks as they crouch

    in the wilderness, between a hen-ostrich and a swift cock-ostrich.

  5. Ah, for the tranquil phantom that visited me,

    while fear had laid my hand upon my liver!

  6. At that time, what resolve did not come undone,

    and what flank was not set trembling then?

  7. And the Egyptian's armies were encircling us,

    their battalions like the blaze of a hearth-fire.

  8. A fire came from Egypt, kindled for us by

    grudges whose hidden rancor was roused from Sarkhad.

  9. And the thrusts, both straight and oblique,

    came in snatches, like a frightened, thirsty wolf's lapping.

  10. They loosed the steed of high prices, and it came to us,

    in place of the steed of low prices, fettered in the wilderness.

  11. Between the scarcity we endure and their low prices

    lies only the distance of a skilled archer's arrow-shot.

  12. Until, when the phantom strayed my way—as though

    it had been granted the drawing of part of a sheathed sword—

  13. the phantom freely gave what was withheld by the one

    I love; the visit was not by appointment.

  14. Oh, how beautiful a night, made white

    by beauty beneath the skin of a black night!

  15. Were it not for our souls' musings, never would

    dreams catch by night the phantom of one never caught.

  16. When I saw the people loathing civil strife,

    whose claws had seized every monotheist,

  17. with polytheism living in lavish, abundant comfort,

    and Islam in turmoil and a wretched plight,

  18. and they had split into two groups, Sunni and

    Shi'i, each saying, "I am rightly guided,"

  19. this one inclining toward Abu Bakr, while that one

    sought Ali, sincere in his affection,

  20. and passions had made them drink a cup that left

    no person of sense among the people free of drunken brawling,

  21. I cried: "In my time I have none but Sa'd

    al-Din Mas'ud, then, to lend me aid."

  22. How many favors he bestowed, and how many blessings

    of renown he granted me, and how many helping hands!

  23. So may he have happiness with every passing year,

    ever coming upon him under the most auspicious rising stars.

  24. And a slender-flanked, slim-waisted one,

    like a bending branch on the curve of a sand dune,

  25. I shared with him a cup, its bubbles strung together;

    through it, the gathering of cares was bound to scatter.

  26. In a meadow of musk-scented breezes, like

    striped silk, smiling to reveal its dewy blossoms,

  27. there is a pool; the east wind's hands have left

    on its surface an engraving like a file's markings,

  28. or the surface of a full coat of mail, when donned

    amid battle's terror by Sa'd al-Din, lord of eminence,

  29. felling horsemen from the saddles of their steeds

    on the day of battle, with a straightened spear and an Indian blade.

  30. His virtues have pleased all creation,

    and he has obeyed his Creator through love of Muhammad.

  31. He has an aspiration lofty among men; its

    rank has risen above the crown of the Farqad star.

  32. May he ever remain amid blessings abiding with him,

    guarded from the vicissitudes of enfeebling time.

Sol 6.1