Sol 6.1

  1. Take the emirate of poetry, Hussein, for

    Brothers and companions have come to pledge allegiance to you.

  2. And rescue the title that has wearied someone other than you,

    So the title may find repose in your precious name.

  3. You gathered the finest company in the finest assembly,

    And among those you gathered were East and West.

  4. Had they not chosen you, they would have quarreled

    Over leadership like factions, and waged war.

  5. They hastened to you with their confidences for you to read,

    And had you asked them for money, they would have contributed.

  6. And they splendidly arranged a magnificent festival and a gathering,

    Vast in scale, with your person its wondrous spectacle.

  7. You witness it under good auspices in generous Ramadan,

    And words were the fare of their feasts and banquets there.

  8. No means remained for the pretenders to attain

    What they sought, what they desired, and what they expected.

  9. And in what you undertook lay the ending of

    What they instilled and deceitful passion dictated.

  10. O you who govern a dominion and a kingdom,

    Yet have neither a house nor property within it,

  11. And whom followers and a retinue salute,

    And for whom a statue and a monument may be raised—

  12. You gave every young man among them enjoyment of his post;

    And would that I were a delegate among those you appointed.

  13. And today Dar al-Kutub suffices you as a capital

    For your two realms, and as a palace hall, as is fitting.

  14. Who will bring me to your lofty threshold, to kiss it,

    With curtains and veils barring your threshold?

  15. This is my share of chaos, which I have won,

    After desire had betrayed me elsewhere.

  16. Seriousness availed me nothing in speech or deed;

    And I have played; perhaps play will prove useful.

Sol 6.1