Sol 6.1

  1. My eyelid will take the place of clouds that fail to rain,

    over what has passed of my aging life,

  2. in a land where the canopy of glory is pitched

    over Hashim, above Suha and the Na'a'im.

  3. There, all the sons of the earth submit to them,

    and the proud non-Arab kings bow before them.

  4. And a trackless desert where imagination cannot take one step—

    I forced my way across it on swift-trotting, fast-striding camels,

  5. while the hands of darkness had unfurled from its sky

    a bride's mantle, spangled with dirhams.

  6. So we imagined the stars in the sky to be spearheads,

    gilded, amid bright, keen-edged swords.

  7. I rend the two tunics of dust and darkness,

    with a bearer of the bit, or a bearer of firm resolve.

  8. I make for Abd Allah, the son of Muhammad,

    vizier to the sons of Saman, as one would seek Hatim.

  9. Who, then, will tell my family that I am finding

    what I seek from a sea of generosity and noble deeds;

  10. and that, through the venerable elder and his shade,

    I have pitched a tent beneath the shade of clouds;

  11. and that the springs of generosity obey my fingertips,

    gushing around me in streaming torrents?

  12. Indeed, the land of the East has learned that it,

    through your blessing, has once more gained a mighty lion;

  13. and it is certain that no one but you is looked to

    to subdue enemies or ward off injustices.

  14. So it took refuge with one neither slack nor laggard,

    nor a coward crouching back from defending the faith,

  15. nor one who abandons a judgment he held out of fickleness,

    nor one who gnashes his teeth in regret when giving.

  16. With the Indian sword, when he draws it, he turbans

    the lions of battle with blows above their turbans.

  17. He grants a share in the choicest of his undertakings,

    and makes others partners in his noblest affairs.

  18. There is no kingship but that whose thrones you have raised,

    nor rain but what you pour forth for a watcher of lightning;

  19. nor a crown but one whose fastening you have undertaken

    upon the brow of the king styled Qasim.

  20. O full moon of the Azizis, be gentle; for often

    with bright counsel you have dispensed with bright, keen swords.

  21. And the star of earth's kingship had already vanished,

    so, through counsel, you became its finest bringer of order.

  22. You took the faith by the arm until you raised it

    to where no imaginer's fancy can soar.

  23. And before you the throne of kingship was weeping,

    then, through a plan, it revealed to us a smiling mouth.

  24. You erased, with the battles you recorded—

    through which you restored Islam—the books of war-prophecy.

  25. May you ever remain, for the kingship you have restored,

    a refuge guarding against every calamity and sudden assailant.

Sol 6.1