Sol 6.1

  1. May God, through Asad, loosen for me

    the sharp edges of rings clamped fast about my shins.

  2. And how many bonds, O son of Abd Allah,

    have you undone for me, and fetters locked around my legs!

  3. So nothing remains of me but a remnant of life;

    whenever I am reminded of what is on my legs, I am terrified.

  4. I render you thanks and the finest affection,

    whenever riders from west and east meet.

  5. For Abd Allah and his two sons have a panegyrist,

    a noble one: whatever he says in their praise is believed,

  6. one of those who win the prize on the day of his race,

    racing ahead to the finish lines, never outstripped.

  7. They are the household of glory, about whom gathers

    Bajila, above all people on every height.

  8. Bold warriors who spare blood and deal with what

    lies beyond the capacity of the lavish giver's hand.

  9. And whoever has not reached the heights attained

    by Bajila through her ancestral honors, where they converge—

  10. Bajila is beside the sun, or above it—

    must lower his gaze when she is like the radiant sun.

  11. If Asad's right hand has loosened my fetters,

    my soul had indeed reached the point of strangulation.

  12. Through him God brought low what had stood high,

    and loosened nooses from the hands of every oppressed man—

  13. beyond the hands' reach once worn,

    whose terror turns every hair-parting gray.

  14. I see Asad, at whose name the cavalry is routed,

    when it catches up with the flashing cloudbank.

Sol 6.1