Sol 6.1

  1. The apparition of Alwah traveled by night from Baniyas,

    And my heart had burned with despair since the parting.

  2. How many nests of dark sandgrouse

    It crossed, and trampled nesting hollows of gray ostriches!

  3. It traveled when I dozed upon a night

    On which wolves feared to prowl.

  4. As though its darkness were a raven shaking

    Itself, while the clouds' eyes poured in torrents.

  5. And the pupil of my eye was an infant in a cradle,

    Rocked in it, cooing to drowsiness.

  6. Nor was it, when it visited me, a Samaritan,

    Saying, when I sought it, 'No touching!'

  7. So it recalled to me the days of the sanctuary's bān trees,

    And my temple-locks are white thaghām grass, though once they were myrtle.

  8. And how many nights I spent beneath her shade,

    Being offered Biqa‘ wine from Yamas!

  9. Whenever you took a cup from the

    Beloved there, he followed one cup with another.

  10. So do not deny—may the Sovereign guide you—

    My words: whoever is addicted to the cup staggers.

  11. And whoever speaks of fire has never burned

    His mouth with it, nor feared harm.

  12. And I have Sharaf al-Din in Baniyas,

    So I do not grieve at separation from those who depart.

  13. When he speaks verse, he brings before us Ibn Aws,

    Habib, and by his intelligence makes us forget Iyas.

  14. Elegant in rhymes, subtle in meanings,

    He masters antithesis and wordplay therein.

  15. Strong in bearing the burden of prosody,

    He never feared confusion in grammar.

  16. He gained, then gave; attained eminence, then rose higher;

    And led, then defended; visited, then consoled.

  17. He outdoes his opponents when they debate him,

    With textual proof, and surpasses them in analogical reasoning.

  18. Through him I see people as true people, wherever he dwells;

    But if he is absent from them, people are not people.

  19. O son of Muhammad, listen, for you are

    Like Jacob, Ya‘qub, in Baniyas.

  20. The city of his tribes did not

    Fear the withholding of blessings.

  21. Good fortune came to you submissively,

    And for anyone else refuses to be anything but restive.

  22. O you who ask about him, listen closely

    To one who endured trials and drew conclusions.

  23. Live near him: through him you will be saved in times of peril;

    And consult him: reap fulfilled wishes and enlightenment.

  24. He has a pen, great and vast in bounty,

    Though narrow in its slit and fine at its tip.

  25. It gives, enriching supporters with generosity,

    And strikes, annihilating enemies with valor.

  26. His pens govern the provinces;

    How excellent is he who governed people with it!

  27. Through counsel he built a realm for Jaharkas,

    And strengthened its pillars and foundation.

  28. Thus he became an adornment to his state,

    Just as embroidery adorns clothing.

  29. And one who draws the noble close to himself is not

    Like another who brings the base near to himself.

  30. Baniyas has become the lion's den,

    And before Jaharkas it was a gazelle's covert.

Sol 6.1