Sol 6

  1. It summons my resolves, the mount, and the swift pace.

    Otherwise, you two, hold back longing and passion from me.

  2. And do not seek my tears by wounding my eye;

    My tears are accepted by the heart for whatever they pay.

  3. Have you two not seen me whenever the east wind blows?

    With it I cool the passion born of my burning anguish.

  4. And I yearn toward the lightning of the Hijaz whenever

    The hands of the horizon strike sparks among the clouds.

  5. Before today, my eyelid had never lain awake;

    Yes, Suʿdā’s estrangement taught my eye sleeplessness.

  6. And when patience dwindled to a mere remnant

    That eases the force of the harshest events,

  7. Nothing remained of me but tending remembered places

    From which the myrtle learned to keep faith.

  8. I longed for the old days that passed

    Happily; longing brought neither help nor gain.

  9. God help me, how often I rave of Najd and Hājir

    And speak in hints of Daʿd or Suʿdā in my love.

  10. It is only a sigh stirred by inward longing;

    Through it, remembrance of Yathrib reveals what it reveals.

  11. How often I have hidden my longing, were it not for tears

    Whose streams soak my eye sockets and cheek.

  12. They bring forth jewels from the sea of eyelids,

    With which one may dispute whoever denies the rare pearl.

  13. After the Hijazi caravan’s night journey at a late hour,

    Do I still prolong my soul’s consoling excuses

  14. And borrow from my future more years of life,

    As though I had counted all its days?

  15. O drivers of the caravan bound for Yathrib,

    Who bear weariness and hardship for God’s sake,

  16. By the affection between us, whose memory is sweet:

    When your curved-necked mounts carry you across Najd

  17. And you see the light of prophethood shining,

    Enfolding the sacred earth and the grave,

  18. And you two speak softly to a garden at the place where revelation dawned,

    For which God has prepared happiness and eternity;

  19. There is no heart that does not beat in its depths

    For her and clothe her in a mantle woven from itself.

  20. The gentle breeze blows, seeking healing from her;

    The balm is the bān, wormwood, and fragrant rand.

  21. And there is a dwelling in whose courts revelation abode;

    After their intimacy, no distance from it remains.

  22. Then say: O Messenger of God, best of His creation,

    Noblest chosen one through whom He made right guidance clear,

  23. A stranger in the farthest west has long yearned for you;

    But for the consolations of hope, he would have died of longing.

  24. He hopes to attain nearness, though sin drives him away

    And has closed so many paths of deliverance.

  25. If strict measure took its due from you,

    And confronted your nearness, he would deserve rejection.

  26. Yet he hopes for what befits you;

    You are the one who gives abundantly and never withholds.

  27. You are the refuge of creation in life and death,

    The noblest in person and the greatest in glory.

  28. But for you, error would not have been distinguished from guidance,

    Nor would the one bent astray have been distinguished from the rightly guided.

  29. When an interval had effaced the signs of the sacred laws

    And desires no longer knew the straight course,

  30. The rabble worshipped stones instead of God,

    Making a rival to Him.

  31. Raids were launched from every hill hollow,

    And a free man soon became a slave.

  32. Through you God willed to bind their scattered ranks together

    And swiftly drew rancor from their hearts.

  33. Your faith spread over the other faiths, and

    Your armies reached the farthest Levant, China, and India.

  34. They bore down upon the realm of the two Iraqs and pressed on

    With steadfast men until their horses faced the barrier.

  35. How many grim ordeals you endured

    And how steadfastly you bore the dark night of terror!

  36. Your own kin harmed you as much as they could for God’s sake,

    And you argued truth against their contentious tongues.

  37. How many miracles you displayed before them,

    Like suns against which they set confusion and denial!

  38. Proof bears only obstinacy as its fruit

    When its light meets diseased eyes.

  39. May God bless you, most merciful of those who show mercy,

    And most compassionate heart ever praised for tenderness.

  40. Would that I could dwell beside you

    And lay my cheek upon musk and amber there.

  41. And if the Merciful grants me a little more life,

    I must urge my mount onward; I must.

  42. My two friends, what can speech contain, however lofty it rises?

    What can words count, however freely they flow?

  43. How many of his miracles can description enumerate

    When the Messenger of God’s signs exhaust all counting?

  44. He rose above the layers of heaven in intimate converse

    And there spoke directly with the One, the Peerless.

  45. His gaze neither swerved nor overstepped its bounds;

    How clear his sight, and how sure his guidance!

  46. When he called to the palm trunk, it came humbly

    To him; he split the full moon and made hard stone speak.

  47. When the thirsty crowd complained to him,

    He made water flow for them from his fingertips.

  48. His saliva restored the eye of Qatāda

    And fixed it firmly after it had been lost.

  49. On the night of his birth was a mighty sign

    Before which firm mountains would crash down.

  50. The soothsayers proclaimed it before it appeared,

    And from its awe the palace of Khosrow fell.

  51. O night whose rank God made so great,

    Through you He fulfilled a promise of manifest light.

  52. He made the idols of error bow

    Before you, sparing neither Suwāʿ nor Wadd.

  53. He hastened to extinguish the fire of Persia;

    After it, no flame was seen burning in those fires.

  54. He prepared you as the birth night of the last of His messengers

    And raised abundant honor across your horizons.

  55. So rise through the ages and take pride

    In this Prophet, now, before, and hereafter.

  56. It is fitting that we loosen our belts in honor of you

    And offer you devotion, thanks, and praise.

  57. And make you today a feast and a gathering

    At which we spread testimony from the wise Recitation.

  58. We place upon you a robe of praise for Ahmad

    And a necklace woven from his signs.

  59. Among us is a descendant of the Nasr line, who preserves what of you

    Was neglected, and in you welcomes the delegation at the full moon.

  60. A ruler whose justice God has poured across the land,

    So that opposites there nearly come to live together.

  61. He remains devoted to the Prophet and his family,

    And is steeped in reverence for his Lord in all his affairs.

  62. Saʿd, lord of the Helpers, is his forebear, and

    God’s hand directed victory and good fortune toward his aims.

  63. He inherited the right to aid, not through a distant line;

    A grandson may rightly inherit his grandfather.

  64. O Yūsuf, protector of al-Jazīra where there is no

    Other champion, whose lean, sleek horses kindle its might,

  65. May God pour your rule over it like lasting rain

    And water its soil through you with a flowing covenant.

  66. How majestic is your rule there!

    How powerful your sword, and how generous your hand!

  67. You proclaimed God’s command throughout its regions;

    He clothed you in piety and entrusted you with the covenant.

Sol 6