Sol 5.6

  1. I see that everything upon the earth has flourished—

    Through your justice—until even heaven’s stars have flourished.

  2. It adorned itself with a star—no, rather, smiled through it;

    And when a thing delights a man, its smile delights him.

  3. The henna-dyed hand had long remained unadorned,

    Until time, adorned by you, put on a signet ring.

  4. Let heaven’s firmament not boast of its star:

    How many stars your glorious deeds have brought forth!

  5. Your stars have never baffled an observer who watched them,

    While this star has baffled observer and astrologer alike.

  6. Opinions differed over it, and tongues faltered,

    Yet we have never seen words about your glories falter.

  7. We see you sweep the lance across the horizon at a gallop,

    Leaving its butt behind, then casting forth its spearhead.

  8. But that was an error of my thought when it imagined,

    And a mistake of my mind when it supposed.

  9. Your father is the star that, from its station,

    Rises yearning toward you and offering its greeting.

  10. The spheres of heaven aided you, and their meteors

    Are an army with which you destroy the countless host.

  11. How often al-Simāk leveled its lance, thrusting back and forth

    Against your enemy, until it nearly shattered!

  12. No one who becomes a ruler upon the face of earth

    Is like one established firmly on heaven’s horizon.

  13. You rose until you found no further height to climb,

    And advanced until you found no one ahead.

  14. Fate ordains nothing that you would undo,

    Nor does fate undo what you have ordained.

  15. May the stars ransom the son of Ayyub, for they

    Are his servants, ready to ransom their master.

  16. He has always stood higher than they in rank,

    And has always known guidance better than they.

  17. Do not liken him to kings, for he is

    Greater than they on earth and highest among them in heaven.

  18. They hide their ignorance when he shows clemency despite his power,

    And hide their abasement when they display grandeur.

  19. When they withhold, he gives; when they punish, he pardons.

    When they betray, he keeps faith; when they descend, he soars.

  20. His conduct has left no tyrant upon the earth,

    And his bounty no destitute soul among creation.

  21. His bounty hastens toward every petitioner,

    Seeking him out with water and provisions wherever he may be.

  22. How many a seeker after him his riches have corrupted—

    For even one who was sound may return diseased.

  23. He came to him and found him a springtime, though before him

    He had seen every generosity among mankind withheld.

  24. He thinks he journeyed by night merely to him, when in truth

    He journeyed to the full moon—or made for the sea.

  25. Through you God struck the lands, and struck them home;

    How can the target be missed when your Lord has cast the shot?

  26. Had He wished to enrich every creature,

    He could have apportioned His servants’ provisions without you.

  27. What glory! You have indeed become creation’s master,

    And among them the perfecter of all beauty.

  28. If they err, they do not err from ignorance of you;

    Rather, they err so that you may show forbearance.

  29. A silence born of clemency makes restraint audible to the wise;

    A complaint born of resolve brings blood low before mere effigies.

  30. Islam has indeed found victory through you in a champion

    Who sees as gain in religion what others counted loss.

  31. His army defends the Sacred House;

    Without them, it would not remain a sacred house,

  32. Nor would Zamzam remain truly Zamzam,

    Nor would al-Ḥaṭīm remain unshattered.

  33. I swear, iron never rang out melodiously in prayer;

    Rather, it invoked blessings and peace upon him.

  34. Every thing praised him out of love,

    And what had been speechless became eloquent about him.

  35. In praising him, the love-prelude came to be delayed,

    And for his sake panegyric came first.

  36. His praisers deemed praise of him the worthier theme and turned

    To him, abandoning mention of Suʿdā and Kulaythima.

  37. Had the enamored lover dealt fairly with himself,

    He would not adore the dark-lipped beauty or kiss dark lips.

  38. Were it not for a conviction cherished by the soul,

    Sleep would be like wakefulness, and quenching like thirst.

  39. He has a blade whose argument’s binding force none can overturn:

    With blows it chants the pilgrim’s call; when drawn, it enters consecration.

  40. It worships devoutly through Islam, yet I have seen it

    Deem it lawful under sacred law to drink blood.

  41. How often, when drawn from the belly of its sheath, it drew forth

    A tongue of blood from a stroke that fashioned a mouth!

  42. When Salah al-Din marches with his army,

    There is no sanctuary save what lies before him; the army is within the sanctuary.

  43. Battle-dust thickens around him, and the sword-blades are drawn

    Across his horizons, until he brings forth both brightness and darkness.

  44. His vanguard is ravening beasts charging forward;

    His rearguard is winged birds circling overhead.

  45. Whoever meets it asks, “How many horsemen are in it?”

    The defeated man tells him how many lions it contains.

  46. How many within it meet the armored champion, themselves helmeted,

    With the joy of one meeting his beloved, turbaned!

  47. How many within it loose some of their arrows,

    Leaving their rival’s armor a mantle striped with shafts!

  48. O true pillar of Islam, through you it has truly become—

    A religion, as it was said: upright and steadfast.

  49. You restored to Egypt the governance of Joseph,

    And renewed there an age bearing your namesake’s name.

  50. It saw from you both nothing but the splendor of justice,

    And nothing but the tradition of justice transmitted from you both.

  51. As you are just within it, so was he just;

    As you are beneficent within it, so was he beneficent.

  52. You revived religion there after its death:

    Thus you are a son of Jacob and a son of Mary.

  53. May you remain until you rule the whole earth,

    And endure until unbelief returns as a Muslim, submitting.

  54. May Sayf al-Din gladden your eye: indeed, he

    Is a sword beside whom the keenest sword seems blunt—

  55. Your peer in justice and your partner in lineage;

    How excellent is the noble stock shared between you both!

  56. How many ask, “Who can rule the course of time with power?”

    Concerning it I answer: those two are its sovereigns.

Sol 5.6