Sol 5.6

  1. The champion, the king victorious through and through—

    the bounty that falls from his hand makes the long rains needless.

  2. He who, when bright, keen swords are bared in the

    tumult of war, sheathes them in helmets and crowns of heads;

  3. who seized the kingdom, after aspiring to

    wrest it away, with the edges of Indian blades that serve him;

  4. and drove back the tyrant of the Franks, who thought that what

    he had hoped for—the realm of Egypt—had only been a dream.

  5. He turned away, his palm empty, though it was filled,

    after all his coveting, with despair and regret.

  6. They breathe out, over what escaped them, a sigh

    that, were it to scorch the sea, would turn the waves to embers.

  7. Yet in safe escape—were it not for their ignorance—lay triumph

    for anyone who sought to face lions in the thickets.

  8. Though they are the lions of al-Sharā, they were humbled by

    a king before whom mighty lions are like sheep.

Sol 5.6