Sol 6

  1. He longs despite the distance of the visit, however far it stretches.

    And yearns for a tribe dwelling at Dhu al-Arta.

  2. And he misses Ma‘na, where a beauty dear to love

    Walked in a robe of beauty, trailing its cloak.

  3. One of the human gazelles in the pasture of youth,

    She rests in beauty’s shade and knows no misstep.

  4. They are young women, yet they are stars;

    The bright stars envy her abundant beauty.

  5. Her skin has the luster of the pearls with which she is adorned,

    As though shining jewels had hung a necklace on her neck.

  6. His heart, trembling, clung to where her earring swings;

    It kept appearing to flutter, or to glimpse the earring.

  7. Tormented in the land of the Romans, he has left behind love,

    The bloom of youth, family, home, and the arta trees.

  8. The fire of passion burns within him, as though

    Love’s blaze had cast a burning brand between his ribs.

  9. A captive, he endures the violence of a time

    That has always been harsh in its judgment of one like him.

  10. When he glimpses lightning over Syria, pearls fall

    From his tears, like gems slipping from their string.

  11. It is his furthest aim, and seeing it is his wish;

    So is gaining his hopes within its haven, however distant it lies.

  12. A land where the wind, passing through, turns back

    Bearing aloeswood and costus from its gardens.

  13. May God water and greet its familiar places

    With clouds recalling recent days, if their rain delays.

  14. And may He favor in it the sacred valley’s shore,

    Its western side and the middle height.

  15. Places of my delight and the nurture of my desires,

    Homelands of longings that became a condition of love.

  16. Among those places I have a young gazelle

    Who grazes in the heart’s preserve, neither on dune nor lowland.

  17. With my eyes I seek the rose of his cheeks, which

    His glance has gathered from blushing cheeks without missing.

  18. And with my looks I sip the wine of his saliva,

    For I am a youth who swore never to taste spiced wine.

  19. He imagined that temple curl as a letter nun upon his cheek,

    Then dotted it with the musk of his beauty mark.

  20. The letter lam of his down made it lovelier, as though

    Ibn Bustan’s hand had freshly traced it.

  21. A youth whose glance commands like a maiden’s,

    While in knowledge he is master of the Anta.

  22. He stilled the winds of ignorance while they were raging

    And revived the dwellings of virtue through generosity and giving.

  23. A guiding imam calls a people to God,

    People who, without his judgment, would have fallen into confusion.

  24. He is our firmest bond, and his right hand

    Is its pillar; there we witness withholding and giving.

  25. He holds ranks of merit before which the

    Wishes fall exhausted, complaining of weariness and discontent.

  26. He conferred high honors, while minds gained through him

    Ways of learning that he established and laid out.

  27. Peoples have no glory except through his glory;

    Let whoever will not yield willingly die in anger.

  28. When Egypt wished for the tread of his sandal

    And spread its pavilion for him, hoping he would step inside,

  29. He turned his reins toward it and came

    Like the son of Imran, without fearing the Copts.

  30. Its two pyramids saw his merit and drew back,

    Almost descending for him after Rama.

  31. He reached its haven like Joseph, and through him

    Its landmarks ceased to complain of drought and famine.

  32. Its regions grew fresh and bright,

    As though the gardens of al-Hazn had gifted it green cloth.

  33. With the light of justice he cleared the darkness of its oppression

    And swept away the cloud of tyranny that had covered it.

  34. I marveled at his right hand, holding a pen:

    Though he had not cast it down, how had it curled into a speckled snake?

  35. Stranger still, in his right hand

    It came to swallow the serpents of injustice whole.

  36. Blessed be Egypt, and blessed be its people,

    Through the guidance of an imam who filled its land with justice.

  37. If the Nile’s water should recede one day, he pours forth

    From his hands seas of generosity, drawing them up like springs.

  38. And if the ten bring forth two more, there flow

    Springs, each giving water to a tribe.

  39. He stayed, and justice was the condition of his stay;

    Then he turned away, having fulfilled that condition.

  40. He left its fertile dwelling, and its landmarks

    After his departure began to multiply their laments.

  41. He traveled like the full moon, passing through stations

    Toward the Romans until he settled among their people at Amta.

  42. He dwelt among them like the sun, giving his light,

    Unlike the moon, which takes back what it has given.

  43. His worth rose above the highest seat of office,

    Though that office had once been fastened to his hems.

  44. He sought rest for his nature from the toil of office,

    And an ignorant man supposed this sprang from weakness.

  45. O master, before whose worth every office

    Has become low, however high its rank,

  46. To you has come a poem rhyming in ta, whose love prelude bears

    Verses surpassing magic and free of faulty repeated rhymes.

  47. Had they competed with al-Ta’i long ago, he would have judged them

    The winners and said: ‘After this, the letter ta cannot be surpassed.’

  48. I marveled that it remained among the Romans, though

    Al-Bakri had set its meter right for me.

  49. From Egypt he glimpsed its lightning by the light of insight

    And spoke of it, reciting verses that rhyme in ta.

  50. May clouds water his grave, the broad meadow,

    Shedding rain across the reaches of its ground.

  51. So take her, scholar of the age, a young woman

    Raised amid Syria’s gardens, among the heirs of the past.

  52. She is a mount difficult to attain, even if she becomes

    Docile; she does not weary the one who rides her.

  53. I scattered pearls of your praise upon her,

    And the stars of the horizon stooped to gather them.

  54. She hung belts of them upon Gemini

    And fashioned an earring from them for the Pleiades.

  55. Enjoy her, a maiden who strikes with an eye

    That, when it gazes, acts like swords, or more fiercely.

  56. Remain a pillar of guidance for the people of letters

    Whenever treacherous time attacks or grows excessive.

  57. For all time, while the exile longs for his homeland

    And yearns despite the distance of the visit, however far it stretches.

Sol 6