1. Whose are these dwelling-traces, like an ornamented book,

    At the valley's bend, just above al-Muhazzam?

  2. They faded after the dwellers' figures were gone, as though the

    Shapes there were dark patches of saltwort and ‘ajram shrubs.

  3. I made them out after there had passed over them

    The new moons of year upon fully elapsed year:

  4. Dwellings of maidens of one age, who afterward exchanged them

    For other lands; they vanished, save a crumbling encircling trench.

  5. They heard of spring rain and followed it,

    On each huge, sturdy camel with swaying flanks.

  6. Long-backed, its footsteps as it walks imitate

    The answering sounds of the well-built howdah's curved frame.

  7. They crossed the hollow of al-Sitr until they left it

    To the west, traveling like one intent upon his destination.

  8. When they had passed all of al-Hasidat,

    And left behind every ridge and mountain pass there,

  9. They pressed on toward the nose of al-Bayad, which wears

    From al-Taj a circlet like the crown of one adorned.

  10. I praised the Commander of the Faithful, chosen

    For us by our Lord, above every Muslim.

  11. Praise was built within him, rising into a lofty

    Towering edifice that had never been breached.

  12. No scion among Eve's children surpasses him

    In any excellence, apart from the honored Prophet.

  13. The gate of praise, until I met him, was never

    Mute and hidden, nor sealed shut.

  14. You gathered the qualities God praises His servant

    For possessing; may good bring you joy, and may you be safe.

  15. Their first is righteousness, and righteousness prevails;

    No flaw in your secret thoughts is known.

  16. A second was a blessing from God

    Upon the Muslims; He is the best of benefactors.

  17. A third: there is no leniency in you

    For one who seeks injustice or acts as a criminal.

  18. A fourth: you never cease to cleave to piety,

    Pressing on with an auspicious, firmly resolved course.

  19. A fifth, in judgment: you do justice to the

    Weak; one whom God has taught is not like the blind.

  20. A sixth: He who is our Lord has

    Chosen you; whoever follows you will not regret it.

  21. A seventh: all the noble qualities—

    You reached them before every runner and rider.

  22. An eighth: in mankind's noble lineage,

    Greatness upon greatness within it has raised you high.

  23. A ninth: all humanity

    Counts gifts from a consummate imam.

  24. A tenth: other judgments follow

    Your judgment, in the excellence of well-wrought speech.

  25. Generous—never do they cease thronging his door,

    People in need, glad of a benefactor.

  26. His scribes have been made, in providing support,

    Keys to the bounty he distributes.

  27. Whenever he gives gifts to a delegation, another like it is brought to them

    By riding the wastes on nose-reined camels.

  28. They measure the wilderness with their forelegs, as though

    Their outstretched forelegs were the arms of mourners.

  29. As though the sandgrouse's nesting hollows, where he turned them aside,

    Were a night-halt, a resting-place for sleepers overcome by nighttime drowsiness.

  30. They knelt their camels; sleep had grown long, as if they

    Were drunkards passing round a brimming bowl of wine.

  31. They knelt their camels briefly; then their sleep was broken

    By the call of a far-seeing, resolute man in a turban.

  32. Hardened by travel, when there comes to meet him

    A searing wind, hot as fire, he does not veil his face.

  33. He confronts the scorching blasts of noon and morning

    Head-on, with his nostrils and his mouth.

  34. The sun has darkened him after his former softness,

    Till he became like a soot-blackened iron spit.

  35. Whenever he leads his companions, brow foremost,

    Into a black night's gloom, he never flinches.

  36. With firm flank-skin, he wraps his waistcloth

    Around a gaunt body, bare-ribbed and hollow-bellied.

  37. As though the buttons of the Coptic linen tunic had attached

    Its front panels, on him, to a straight tree-trunk.

  38. As though the two ticks on his upper chest had been stamped

    With clay from the Golan by a foreigner's scribes.

  39. If you wish to meet a man of valor and generosity,

    And of lofty, inherited, preeminent honor,

  40. Then seek ‘Umar, and do not pass him by

    For another; ask the people, and understand.

  41. A man from whom all shameful deeds were barred,

    Never mingling with his flesh or blood.

  42. He went forth in pure garments, his honor breathing fragrance,

    Manifest to the eye of the discerning observer.

  43. Stern with the resentful man when he arouses his suspicion,

    A staunch defender of the weak and wronged.

  44. As though he were a bright crescent, for which had parted

    The high crests of darkly massed spring rain-clouds.

  45. On the pulpit of the wholly sacred valley,

    He comes forth with words, unwavering in utterance.

  46. Radiant of countenance, his face bright with authority,

    Among those who live up to praise, free of blame.

  47. He was raised to a height beneath which would perish

    The labors of a generous man of inherited renown,

  48. By three forefathers, each of whom built

    Perfection and kingship that never afterward ended.

  49. Kings who regard justice as their duty,

    Fair of face, by whom the blind find guidance.

  50. They were a light for us, by leave of Him who has

    Favors upon it, of bounty and blessings.

  51. They saw us, and entrusted our affairs to the most pious among us;

    Nor did we know ourselves to have been left untaught.

  52. This is my praise, truthful, not false,

    Of them; whoever does not judge justly will regret it.

Sol 6.1