Sol 6.1

  1. May he through whom excellence has prospered rejoice and be blessed

    in a house that is the world, all the rest of it mere surplus.

  2. There courage, resolve, and reason have pitched their tents,

    and there knowledge, forbearance, and generosity have settled.

  3. His largeness of heart undertook its design for him,

    in keeping with his stature—and like delights in like.

  4. So it came in accord with his inward wish, as though

    hopes had taken shape, and it were their likeness.

  5. A structure of glory: the earth bears witness that it

    will be rolled up with no equal to this house beneath the sky.

  6. It makes the pupils of the eyes squint

    toward it, as though everyone were [cross-eyed?].

  7. A beacon for the eyes of the nobles, while its lord

    is the fulfillment of petitioners' hopes when they lose their way.

  8. A cloud risen above the clouds, ascending,

    and how fitting it should rise, with you as its downpour.

  9. And al-Khayri has let fall its two sleeves of glory

    in a courtyard where the company gathers for the king,

  10. as the radiant Eagle rises, beating

    its two wings—except that its rising-place is bare.

  11. You built a structure upon the heads of your foes,

    and because of it rancor took firm hold in their hearts.

  12. Had you been content with their heads as its battlements,

    they would have brought them to you—the poor man's utmost offering—sparing no effort.

  13. But I think that, had you intended to raise it,

    God would have refused to let it rise above you, so it would not have risen.

  14. Hopes make pilgrimage to it from every direction,

    and miserliness and drought are slaughtered along its edges.

  15. It suffers no harm from not facing the Tigris,

    for at its two edges flood and downpour meet.

  16. Its auspicious stars shone upon the far reaches of Iraq,

    so sovereignty, security, and justice returned there.

  17. Thus good fortune has cast its radiance upon it,

    so ill fortune has no power at its borders.

  18. They said he had departed from his nature in building it,

    having once been occupied with nothing but giving.

  19. I replied: if that has not distracted him from generosity,

    what harm to eminence if he is not idle?

  20. If a blade is blameless in stock and temper,

    take pains over a sheath in which the blade is kept safe.

  21. Long enjoy, despite the envious and your foes,

    your eminence, and live for generosity as long as miserliness is vile.

Sol 6.1