Sol 5.6

  1. Do not say, “You have fallen in love with the gazelle’s radiance”;

    Come now, and behold this gazelle.

  2. You will find delight and loveliness in the light,

    whose beauty and majesty the universe could not contain.

  3. A face shaped like the full moon’s disk—

    yet the full moon cannot surpass its perfection.

  4. They likened it to a garden, by some analogy,

    but Beauty refused to let you call the garden its peer.

  5. When they compared the fresh narcissus

    to eyes that feigned languor,

  6. eyelids opposed them—God protect us from them!—

    with deadly, murderous glances.

  7. Though they likened the cheeks to a rose

    whose color does not differ from theirs,

  8. she silenced them: “The rose has a flaw”—

    and Ibn al-Rumi discoursed upon it at length.

  9. And when they compared chrysanthemums to the smiling mouth,

    their ignorance excused their audacity;

  10. the peerless pearls within it put them to shame,

    beneath those honey-sweet lips.

  11. A radiant figure—they likened it to a branch

    wherever it stretched and made the branch bend.

  12. The waist rose slenderly and showed them

    that this comparison impairs its perfect proportion:

  13. for graceful figures sway when they bend,

    while the haunch beneath bears their burdens.

  14. No branches can rival it then;

    branches naturally lean with every breath of air.

  15. Likewise, when they called the smooth slope of her breast

    a sheet of silver, brilliant in its polish,

  16. with two crystals rising upon it,

    of pure gold, circled by golden filings,

  17. it said, “Far be it from me to be lifeless matter!

    This simile is ignorance on their part.”

  18. Behold the neck: when they likened it

    to the pillar of dawn, the necklace haloing it,

  19. why does dawn shrink away from it, humbled,

    revealing that it disdains all vaunted length?

  20. Likewise, the brow they likened

    to a crescent, with the sky stretched around it.

  21. The parting revealed the difference—I would ransom it with my head—

    the greatest of all, however long they argue.

  22. It cried, “Turn away from likenesses, for I

    side with truth in what it says.”

  23. Would that I knew: are these not the beauties

    he described as lying close within reach?

  24. Its essence defies comparison, just as a lament reinforced it—

    —in his judgment, through originality.

  25. The age’s peerless man, most awe-inspiring in rank, possessed of glo—

    —ry, glory’s brother, whose virtues we have come to know.

  26. If he speaks or promises, there is nothing but

    truth in his words and high resolve in his deeds.

  27. Lofty honors sought him for themselves, and triumphed

    in his radiance, becoming proud.

  28. They had every right, since they found no noble man

    like him—this man did not pursue mere hopes.

  29. He has assumed the judgeship and remains as ever:

    a revealer of truth, the radiance of Justice’s sun.

  30. They entrusted the administration to him when,

    in his rising, they saw the crescent of its future fullness.

  31. Then he rose to lofty offices;

    he was worthier of their throne, beyond doubt.

  32. They entrusted its affairs to him with confidence,

    while the chief withdrew to cure his illness.

  33. With delegated authority he showed them what had not

    been possible for another, even with full authority:

  34. the finest knowledge, sound judgment, and resolve,

    power, discernment, and nobility.

  35. He will ascend—I pray the Generous One—to its summits,

    and we shall see the clouds of his bounty pouring rain.

  36. Time itself will brighten, then turn toward him,

    and the land will be honored by the glory of his independence.

  37. For he is the refined and purified life of happiness,

    and we cannot imagine a peer to his rank.

  38. He mounted glory in the race for lofty honors

    and overtook the heights, till they stood before him.

  39. He restored praise to the sons of Egypt

    and benefited all without weariness.

  40. Such—such are noble traits; and who

    is like Abu Mustafa, magnificent in dignity and eloquence?

  41. Lord, grant him what he desires, and hasten it;

    goodness is best when swiftly bestowed.

  42. Protect him from the eye of every envier,

    and make success his intimate companion and brother,

  43. as long as birds sing and branches bend,

    and Abd al-Latif offers this prayer for him.

Sol 5.6