Sol 5.6

  1. Praise be for life, after resolve and high aspiration—

    praise commensurate with the blessings it has bestowed.

  2. I cannot deny the mounts the favor I owe them:

    through them, bridles attained the rank of halters.

  3. They brought the distant abode of glory near to my sight,

    until I saw the age’s imam close at hand.

  4. They set out from the Kaaba of al-Batha and the Sacred Precinct,

    and came as pilgrims to the Kaaba of beneficence and generosity.

  5. Did the House know, after I had parted from it,

    that I journeyed from one sanctuary only to another?

  6. There the Caliphate’s pavilion stands pitched

    between the two opposites: pardon and retribution.

  7. The Imamate possesses sacred lights

    that dispel two hateful things: darkness and injustice.

  8. Prophethood possesses signs that declare to us

    the twin verities of judgment and wisdom.

  9. Noble virtues possess standards that teach us

    to praise two abundant gifts: valor and generosity.

  10. Sublimity possesses tongues that sing its praises

    for two praiseworthy things: deeds and character.

  11. The banner of towering honor is raised

    by the hand of two lofty powers: glory and aspiration.

  12. I have sworn by the triumphant, divinely guarded one, believing

    that in the oath lie salvation’s triumph and righteousness’s reward.

  13. Religion and the world, and all who dwell in both, have indeed been guarded

    by his righteous vizier, dispeller of the clouds of care—

  14. the wearer of glory, whose robes were woven

    only by the hand of the two craftsmen: sword and pen.

  15. His bounty gave the days all that they desired;

    his bounty made all who complained of want cease to be.

  16. The lofty spears have given him title to a kingdom

    that lends the Pleiades’ brow the pride of loftiness.

  17. I behold a station of such grandeur that it made me think,

    even awake, that it was part of a dream—

  18. a day of life that had never crossed my hopes,

    nor had aspiration’s desire climbed so high.

  19. Would that the stars drew near, so I might string them

    into necklaces of praise—for my words do not satisfy me as its due.

  20. There you see the vizierate freely offering

    the Caliphate counsel above suspicion.

  21. Affections have taught us that between the two

    lies kinship in sound judgment and in blood.

  22. A caliph and a vizier—their justice has spread

    shadows over the crown of Islam and the nations.

  23. The Nile’s increase is but a decrease beside their overflowing bounty;

    what, then, could the pouring of lasting rain-clouds hope to rival?

Sol 5.6