Sol 6.1

  1. To reach al-Shihab al-Qusi, blows were dealt

    to the armpits of sunken-eyed camels bent like bows:

  2. each huge, sturdy camel sprung from Shadqam,

    and each swift she-camel dancing beneath the mirage.

  3. How many of his visitors dismount, then kiss

    the padded feet of an old, mature camel and a young she-camel!

  4. They trampled ostrich nests during night travel; and how many

    nesting hollows their hoof-tips dug up!

  5. They headed for a sea of generosity and a learned scholar,

    versed in the learning of scholars of reasoned judgment and authoritative texts.

  6. He acquired the sciences through his diligence and toil;

    by God, attaining eminence comes at no small price.

  7. So through his verse and prose, poets and

    writers appear in thieves' clothing.

  8. No indeed: nor are wide-eyed maidens, gazing

    through their kohl-dark lids, like the squint-eyed.

  9. And he has excellent, plentiful exhortations,

    like rings adorned with the finest gems.

  10. He extricates himself from every taxing, tangled problem

    that defeats others, with the finest resolution.

  11. And in the assembly of debate he charges like a falcon;

    everyone before him is like a wing-clipped sandgrouse.

  12. Admired for his grammatical analysis, originality, and

    amplification, elaboration, and concision.

  13. He answers a questioner well on sound forms,

    defective verbs, relative pronouns, and defective nouns.

  14. No fault is found in him, except that

    he is not eager to gain anything other than praise.

  15. His people enjoined him to uphold deep-rooted glory;

    so he built eminence and gladdened his counselor's eye.

  16. He cast the cloak of pride off himself, yet he

    is clad in a mantle and shirt of awe-inspiring dignity.

  17. O Abu al-Mahamid, you are the most faithful of men, O

    you whose stock is the Ansar, the noblest stock!

  18. The sons of Qayla—no sin of anyone who

    ever befriended them escapes purification.

  19. He rises higher through humility's self-lowering;

    how wondrous is one who grows through diminution!

  20. Had he received what he deserves, no one would be

    singled out for great favors except him.

  21. The man of merit is deprived, while the deficient man is

    provided for, singled out with the adornment of special favor.

  22. And kings' bounty is like the vulvas of

    virgins: guarded against all but the tiny biting insect.

  23. Had they ever been fair to Shihab al-Din, he would have been

    given the greatest shares of their offices.

  24. No eye ever gazed toward him in enmity

    without returning with its eyeball gouged out.

  25. May whoever opposes Shihab al-Din always have

    a neck broken by the onslaught of his might.

  26. Not everyone who delivers the message is his equal

    in hunting the flock of praise, the finest quarry.

Sol 6.1