1. Poetry remains the tongue of time.

    Through it, the human being is taught eloquence.

  2. And poets are the princes whose

    words are enchanting, and so are their meanings.

  3. Had their fury not been feared,

    their chapter would not have been revealed in the Qur'an;

  4. nor would Ka'b have gained through it the cloak of the

    Prophet, when he won the coolness of safety.

  5. The waters of its pools have not run out;

    it is like the sea—and the sea does not perish.

  6. And by my life it is an interpreter—and what

    an interpreter it is among humankind!

  7. Yet its market has grown stagnant,

    so in this age it is valued at humiliation's price.

  8. How many purses were acquired through it before us,

    of sound, full-weight dinars!

  9. And the true-born Arabs were, through it,

    masters of artistry in bygone times.

  10. And their collected verse distinguished

    the mixed-blood pretender from the purebred.

  11. But after them its lot-arrow proved unlucky;

    it had been the highest lot-arrow, but was brought low.

  12. Even so, it is not safe from a thief

    and a liar who has transgressed against it and betrayed it.

  13. O Mubariz al-Din, you are the one

    who kindles among brigands an oft-renewed war.

  14. They are the robbers, the thieves whom

    you have humbled, every one of them, far and near.

  15. The realm's mainstay is brave, and so

    time cannot daunt him by rattling worn waterskins.

  16. And this state is a spear, and

    God has fitted him in place of the spearhead.

  17. He wears a sharbush cap, and before his glory

    the wearer of the tarha veil and taylasan mantle is abashed.

  18. And he is the keen-witted emir who

    has settled in the highest place of eminence.

  19. I said to Ibrahim the words of a man

    trusted, who told no lie in his speech:

  20. You are the one for whom the two Easts have borne witness

    to success in striving, and the two Wests as well.

  21. Had you lived in the age before us,

    Abd al-Madan would have been your slave.

  22. He recovers stolen goods from the defiant man,

    who, though daring, is a coward.

  23. Recover my stolen work from a thieving renegade,

    and let him find no safety from his fear.

  24. He swooped upon my verse as a raider, just as

    Abu Ja'da swooped upon a flock of sheep.

  25. Let him be like a ball I have driven

    across the playing field with a polo mallet.

  26. I have an oration whose prose is like scattered pearls, and in

    it the verse is lovelier than beauties' necklaces.

  27. As though Quss of Iyad had brought

    it, and in it Sahban's excellence shone forth.

  28. It contains such affirmation of God's oneness as bridled the

    polytheist with speechlessness and a severed tongue;

  29. and praise of the Chosen One, through which

    I hope tomorrow to win the abode of the Gardens;

  30. and praise of the Prophet's companions, whose

    state—bliss be theirs!—is the best of states;

  31. and praise of our lord, the imam, to whom

    obedience is ordained throughout time;

  32. then of the just king, who unsheathes

    from your keen resolve the Yemeni sword;

  33. and praise of you, resembling in its beauty

    Zuhayr's praise of the man whose father was Sinan.

  34. Nor was I ever miserly with what

    I bestowed on anyone who sought help through my verse.

  35. How many poems I fashioned for a man

    were met with handsome gifts from him!

  36. O you who are the world in our age,

    contained in a single body in one place,

  37. you are aided by God; likewise,

    whoever fears God—exalted is He—is aided.

Sol 6.1