1. They complained of injustice, though they had been disloyal, though they had done wrong.

    When they strove—may no foot ever carry them!

  2. They lit a fire of war whose kindler came to grief;

    So how much of their blood was spilled upon its cutting edge!

  3. O son of al-Muhassin, those people have failed

    In their bargains; having and lacking have become alike.

  4. How far is sound judgment from a people who acted foolishly,

    To destroy their glory among men—if only they knew!

  5. You spared no effort in warding every hardship from them,

    And neither Arabs nor non-Arabs deny this.

  6. So if one day you call them to account for their deeds,

    You will leave them like meat resting on a butcher's block.

  7. A people all alike, whose judgment has grown light;

    They are far from glory, yet censure of them is close at hand.

  8. So along the path where they hoped for victory, they lost;

    And where they expected spoils, they incurred loss.

  9. They sought to force you onto a course of abasement, its sea murky,

    But you escaped unharmed, while they plunged into its depths.

  10. They imagined that glory's flight feathers had been shorn,

    So that neither sword nor pen could be drawn for it.

  11. Until, when the good fortune of Sa'd al-Dawla flashed

    Its lights, they regretted—if regret could avail.

  12. His spear has never once yielded to whoever would bend it,

    Yet it splinters within the enemy's heart.

  13. He is the fiercest in dispute, the mightiest of hand;

    In war, the eloquent, combative champion recoils from him.

  14. Those people did not draw back to spare you; and in hunting

    The lion of al-Shara, sheep have no hope.

  15. They squatted there upon their tails in terror,

    When a rending hand and mouth came upon them.

  16. At an assembly where you were like a hawk overlooking it,

    Before kings, conferring privately with them, while those men were vultures.

  17. You are he whose eminence has never ceased to pour forth

    Every noble deed, while they are the obscure ones.

  18. How many a robe of honor whose dye was enemies' blood

    You have crowned with honor in which lofty heads take pride!

  19. Each proud king bestowed it upon you, whose hand

    Rules over people's lives and wealth.

  20. And a company swore oaths, yet broke them,

    So the oath's outcome was fear and regret.

  21. How often do you ally with people who have no fidelity,

    Nor covenants, nor faith, nor binding pledges?

  22. They wished, after hearing the herald's words, and after

    Seeing him, that their ears had been deafened and they had gone blind.

  23. They suffered from the glad news they heard from him,

    And the allies rejoiced in what he brought.

  24. When they saw the heights of good fortune towering,

    And might unbending, its resolves never turned aside,

  25. And the full moon, which clouds had veiled, was freed

    Of its dark shroud, and the gloom dispersed before its light.

  26. O envious one, who kindles in rage

    The fire of defiance, whose craving finds no cure,

  27. As long as you intend to oppose Mas'ud,

    Then that is an illness that cannot be eradicated.

  28. Far be it from you, O exalted king,

    To regard light and darkness as equal.

  29. And you are nobler than a lion whose head bears

    A crown's circlet, in which pearls are strung.

  30. Ma'n's lofty spirit refused to accept humiliation,

    As did his resolve, prudence, benevolence, and generosity,

  31. And a family, as fierce as the lions of the thicket—

    Such are they amid terror, when champions are pitted against them.

  32. Fierce-eyed men, carried headlong into the fire of battle

    By horses whose bits melt at the corners of their mouths.

  33. Horses steered, while the dust stands in the way,

    By lions whose thickets are made of spear-shafts.

  34. Marvel at a short-necked man with a snub nose,

    Bent on challenging a fierce-eyed man with a proud, high-bridged nose!

  35. A sword that returns to cleave the joints; neither

    Weakness nor weariness ever visits it in battle.

  36. How many a company turned the back of the shield toward him,

    Until, when they saw his firm resolves, they fled!

  37. So their share of war with him was retribution,

    And his share from his Lord was always blessings.

  38. He is this world's seasoned master, its peerless one,

    So every kind of glory is gathered together in him.

  39. Going upon my head to serve him is easy for me,

    As the pen moves in the writer's right hand.

  40. So may God guard him from what I fear

    For his exalted rank, and may his foot never slip.

Sol 6.1