Sol 5.6

  1. Does he think that I gazed upon him or inclined toward him,

    Or that I feared the keen sword and the lances?

  2. This one, whose two sidelocks and parted hair

    Lead whoever beholds him to guidance and error.

  3. I would ransom him—a beauty such that it seems

    The All-Merciful created no beauty or loveliness before him.

  4. His turn of the head enthralls, and his glance strikes dead

    The desert gazelle and the formidable lion.

  5. His body is like water: wherever I looked at him,

    I found within him an image of my own shadow.

  6. I fear the touch of his hands because of his delicacy,

    And I think that, but for his garments, he would flow away.

  7. Radiant, he made the darkness betray his secret

    When he arrived, terrified and fleeing.

  8. With him, we imagined the darkness a dyer of beards

    Whose time had come to dye them with blades—or change their hue.

  9. Then he withdrew; through folly, his brief stay made my night long.

    Indeed, darkness is an oppressor whenever it lasts.

  10. He excused himself from remaining with these words:

    “One endowed with coyness naturally refuses humiliation;

  11. The lover fears the watcher and his false report,

    And prolonged union is followed by weariness.”

  12. So I praised him, yet blamed three things in him:

    His refusal, his self-admiration, and his haste.

  13. At parting I began to marvel at the slenderness of his waist

    While it carried such heavy burdens.

  14. And how his beauty won over those who reproached me!

    I saw my envious critics become his censurers too.

  15. I marveled, too, that my hopes succeeded through the one I sought,

    Though I see that people’s hopes ordinarily do not succeed:

  16. Prince Muhammad, of the house of Sayfiya, presently

    Abounding in gifts whenever I complain of my condition;

  17. The giver to petitioners before they even ask—

    For generosity is generosity only when no request is voiced;

  18. The slayer of enemies through resolves which,

    Whenever he attacks, become swords and arrowheads;

  19. A lion whose valor enters deadly perils with composure—

    For without its valor, even a lion would never attack.

  20. He never acts ill but that Time is his captive,

    Unable to distinguish retreat from advance.

  21. The reins of destiny obey his hands, whether

    He goes rightward in the morning or leftward at evening.

  22. Were he one who challenged the celestial spheres in loftiness,

    They could not prevail against him in debate.

  23. And were he one who rivaled the moons in splendor,

    They would fall before him in reverence.

  24. When he strikes, you encounter only a valiant man

    Who has filled all hearts with awe and majesty.

  25. When he gives, you find nothing but rain clouds

    Whose gifts and bounty cover every land.

  26. He possesses eminence, yet nobly grows sparing in dispensing it,

    While freely spending wealth to sustain his eminence.

  27. People are of two kinds because of him: this one has a burden

    Carried for him, while that one is laden with gifts.

  28. He comes from a family who made dignity their captive, stirred

    The rising battle-dust, and performed noble deeds.

  29. If they collide with a mountain, they leave it a level plain;

    Or if they cross swords with a sea, they leave it a mirage.

  30. Whoever opposes them fails, as though attempting

    To make the sun vanish at the heat of noon.

  31. Whoever vies with them stumbles; I deem him

    One who seeks to grasp something from the stars.

  32. He seeks to fight them, though it is impossible

    To wage battle against death itself.

  33. Endure, unrivaled one of the age and son of its unrivaled one:

    You grant men gifts and fear no men.

  34. Look upon me with the eye of a protecting supporter,

    For my sound pillar has weakened and leaned.

  35. Time, more treacherous than its children, has treated my companionship

    Unjustly and has dealt with me more darkly than any of them.

  36. We find its meagerness strange; whoever had seen its

    Former abundance would find that meagerness stranger still.

  37. I do not expect to leave your gate

    Until my head parts from my joints.

  38. Anticipating the pleasure of remaining with you,

    Though I had sought the finest way to depart.

  39. But seeing you made me forget the homeland

    And family, so terrors became light to me.

  40. By the All-Merciful as witness, I have not departed

    From what I say, nor do I utter impossibilities.

  41. So favor me with your blessings, whose child I am,

    And send your kindness to your child, who pleads as a child.

  42. Subdue my enemies, for they have multiplied, while my company—

    Intimates, brothers, and maternal uncles—has scattered.

  43. You are most worthy: when someone seeks your bounty,

    Your hands pour like a rain-laden cloud.

  44. May you remain envied in every undertaking,

    For the noble person has always been envied.

  45. Were it not for punishment, I would say that you apportion

    Livelihoods, lifespans, and appointed terms.

gpt-5.6-sol