Sol 5.6

  1. Since you have resolved to journey on,

    do not loosen the captive’s bond.

  2. For neither my heart nor my inmost thought

    holds anything but your favor—so be just, or tyrannize.

  3. My burning passion, speaking through my sighs, ensures

    that you need no goading from the camel-drivers.

  4. How lovely, in dark and lustrous eyes,

    are the ravages of seduction and languor—

  5. with arrows keener than decreed fate,

    they shoot us through gaps in the curtains.

  6. And you, O you who plunge into peril,

    into the depths of predawn and noonday travel,

  7. addicted to setting out at evening and dawn,

    with saddle and camel-pad as a third beside your two staffs,

  8. upon she-camels skittish as sandgrouse,

    their bellies clinging to their backs,

  9. as though cut from leather thongs,

    leaner and more hidden than a thought,

  10. at home upon highlands and descents,

    stretching out the ghostly shapes of slanting necks

  11. as you draw long ropes toward a well,

    or like alifs standing apart from written lines—

  12. convey—may you be granted utmost joy—

    my complaint against my fortune to the prince:

  13. al-Afdal, son of al-Afdal, the vizier,

    star of guidance, possessor of august lordship,

  14. son of Sulaym, possessor of cherished praise.

    Kiss the earth of his flourishing court,

  15. and say to him: O rising face of glad tidings,

    you have arrived just after the face of warning;

  16. O rain-bearing breeze of the meadow,

    O prolonger of short-lived hope,

  17. O one who makes good the loss of like and peer

    when judgment and counsel become confused;

  18. O stopper of a breach opened in the frontiers,

    O object sought by every discerning critic,

  19. fit alike for caravan and army

    when Time comes knocking with dire calamity

  20. in which the counselor’s perplexity grows long.

    Hear the bellowing of the hamstrung, full-grown camel,

  21. bearing more than can be reckoned,

    until the throaty roar rose high

  22. and roaring tangled with growling.

    I have come complaining of how few my helpers are,

  23. like a Qur’an codex coupled with a lute,

    or a neighing horse displayed among donkeys.

  24. Adversities keep befalling my affairs,

    conspiring in hateful designs deep within my heart.

  25. They have stripped my branch of all its bark;

    yet a noble man may overlook a grave wrong

  26. for fear his complaint will have no effect.

    So bestow your favor—may you be spared calamity’s nocturnal knock—

  27. with a glance into these affairs.

    Be angry and say: O fire of my wrath, blaze up!

  28. O heaven of resolve, do not sway!

    O stars of the missiles, do not set,

  29. until I gladden the eye of one seeking refuge—

    no, until I vanquish oppression for my ward

  30. and carry rightful guidance safely past danger.

    For the reward of a duly accepted rite

  31. lies in shaving, while shortening is itself a shortcoming.

    Then say to my days: settle down, or fly!

  32. Resolve has cast me upon one who knows,

    and prudence has propped me against Mount Thabir.

  33. Remain, and may you enjoy the best of ages

    through the coming festivals and months,

  34. with sword, pulpit, and throne,

    possessed of a tranquil heart and gaze.

Sol 5.6