Sol 5.6

  1. Turn aside at the dwellings, and salute that familiar abode;

    may an encampment made steadfast by praise endure.

  2. And proclaim at that yonder sanctuary my pledge, which—

    O son of affection—shall never be scattered there.

  3. May a cloud’s downpour water the tribe’s dwellings,

    with every night-cloud’s abundant gift of rain.

  4. May safety embrace you, O homes of those I love;

    for without love of you, I would never have been a poet.

  5. Never did the turtledove sing above a bower

    but my yearning heart longed and echoed its song.

  6. Blessed remembrance of days that passed in meeting,

    when time there was delightful and gladdening—

  7. days when purity was our companion

    and the nightingale of fellowship sang joyfully.

  8. Among those yonder deserted traces we have landmarks

    to which the heart has vowed it will never know another.

  9. Whenever I remember the women who encamped there,

    my passion-stricken eyes spend the night sleepless.

  10. Many a dark-eyed beauty’s eye has slain us,

    its wide, flawless glances striking deliberately—

  11. intoxicated with the wine of passion and youth,

    dealing mortal blows and taking captive whenever he gazed or appeared.

  12. He kept sipping the choicest wine of his pride

    until he swayed coquettishly and reveled.

  13. His figure stirred beneath the thin garments,

    supple, like a tender, smooth bough.

  14. His smile revealed hailstones, bubbles, and—

    pearls strung in order and arrayed in carnelian.

  15. He came, having bewitched the gazelles with his neck,

    strutting gracefully amid the thin garments.

  16. He captured the heartsick lover with a languid glance from a languid eye,

    then struck the heart with his abandonment, and it blazed.

  17. Whenever the lightning of his smile flashed, there streamed—

    my eyes; it anguished the heart and thundered.

  18. Never has a fragrant breeze passed

    but the virtues of Haydar Ahmad spread their perfume—

  19. a lord, the adornment of praiseworthy deeds and glories,

    peerless in the beauty of his noble works.

  20. How excellent an emir, and what a fine, noble lord!

    He attained perfection and won most glorious honor.

  21. Excellence matured in his manners

    and grew as his virtues spread and rose aloft.

  22. A gallant lord whose glorious lineage shines with a meteor’s light,

    he mastered the heights despite all opposition and gained supremacy.

  23. His virtues surpassed the morning breeze

    in gentleness; he inclined to every excellence and followed its lead.

  24. His hands outdid the clouds of bounty, just as

    with resolve and wise counsel he vanquished his foes.

  25. When rainclouds are mentioned at his summons,

    you find his hands more generous than the clouds.

  26. And when the noblest men are named, he is

    the firmest among them in resolve and the most open-handed.

  27. No man, hard-pressed or prosperous, has looked toward his hands

    without finding their promised benefit fulfilled.

  28. A lion when the flood of battle surges;

    a source of succor when calamity descends and assails.

  29. A lord to whom lofty refinement comes by nature

    from the time of weaning, and whose devotion to it only grew.

  30. Ever refined, you see him cultivated

    in character, never aspiring to anything but glory’s heights.

  31. A man of intelligence sharpened by excellent discernment,

    with alertness joined to sound judgment.

  32. The realms of honor shine through him, and from him

    reason has risen in rectitude and surpassed Polaris.

  33. O master whose glory is exalted,

    may you remain gallant, aided by Providence.

  34. Take this poem: it has come from Ibn Karama,

    its tongue warbling in verse in praise of you.

  35. Live safely and endure, O glorious one who attained his desires—

    in honor, with qualities beyond all counting.

Sol 5.6