Sol 5.6

  1. O finest champion of the finest Imam!

    Rightly indeed were you called the champion of Islam.

  2. You made the sword’s edge judge rebellion among his enemies,

    and Mashrafi blades are the most just of judges.

  3. You championed God’s faith as one divinely guided in his judg—

    —ments, in repeal and ratification.

  4. You took the noblest stand ever witnessed by heaven’s an—

    —gels, and rose to the finest station.

  5. You defended it, and thus were its ablest defender,

    guarding its true cause—the finest of its champions.

  6. You terrified the enemy with every dusky, blood-dripping spear

    that shackled champions, and every white sword stained with blood,

  7. gleaming white, its thirsty edges steeped in blood,

    and noble, sleek horses unyielding to the bit.

  8. They knew nothing of close combat amid war’s press until they learned

    from your sword’s edge how heads are struck.

  9. They were bombarded by piercing meteors launched by your assault,

    blazing against them from behind and before.

  10. Thus their homes and hearts lay amid fire—

    throughout its reaches; and fear—what a conflagration!

  11. Were it not for ʿImād al-Dīn, no hand would have attained

    any aim by warring and fighting them.

  12. They ended in ruin, their own fortunes having betrayed them,

    transformed—for such is fortune’s way.

  13. Once they passed, it was as though they had been prey for your beasts:

    a jumble of dreams, a phantom of sleep.

  14. They had been kings in Iraq, but then they became

    —when they rebelled—mere lodgers among Syria’s people.

  15. You left them, their hearts filled by you

    with such terror that they see your blades in dreams.

  16. They sought safe-conduct from you after you had delivered them

    to the worst torment—but it was no time for safe-conduct.

  17. You assailed their ravenous army with an army,

    sweeping, and a host that followed your steps, devouring.

  18. You branded them with shame on the day you met them,

    advancing with a sun, proud and handsome.

  19. With every man who, were justice done him, could dispense

    with spear and sword, relying on his glances alone—

  20. stout-limbed and smooth of cheek, when horsemen en—

    —gage and the lion stands firm.

  21. He strikes his quarry dead, shooting now from his palm,

    and now from his eyelids with arrows.

  22. Men who, when they shoulder the hollow shafts of lances

    for battle, seem to you like lions in their thickets.

  23. They prevail, yet beneath their helmets appear among them

    the eyes of oryx and the necks of white gazelles.

  24. One wheels with a supple lance, slender as his stature—

    supple—while another is an archer with glances.

  25. Mounted, they are lions in hiding;

    in council, they are full moons.

  26. Were it not for pious reserve, I would say their faces

    were icons that make the worship of idols lawful.

  27. They rode forth intoxicated by the encounter, as though

    passing round over it a cup of wine.

  28. The gleam of the surging blades within their hands seemed

    lightning flashing from the backs of clouds.

  29. They clad iron over hearts as hard as iron

    in valor, layering coats of mail over armor.

  30. Their young men in battle’s terror have an old man’s resolve;

    their old men there have a young man’s onslaught.

  31. They followed Emir Abū al-Faḍāʾil and emulated him

    in prowess and bold advance.

  32. Rejoice in the victory whose glad tidings, but for you,

    would never have entered human imaginings—

  33. a conquest by which you made the enemy a tale

    enduring through the ages and years.

  34. I marvel, while armored champions scowl,

    at your radiant, smiling face.

  35. Whenever a crisis darkens, your judgment shines clear;

    whenever drought descends, your sea overflows.

  36. Long enjoy what our lord, Commander of the

    Faithful, has bestowed upon you in bounty.

  37. Rejoice in the rank you have been granted,

    which singled you out for honor and distinction.

  38. And an investiture robe testified that you attained

    the fullest share of the caliphate’s honor.

  39. May you never cease to walk luxuriantly in robes of happiness,

    graciously trailing the hem of exalted glory—

  40. feared and looked to with hope, your sword of might keen

    among humankind, your cloud of bounty pouring rain.

Sol 5.6