Sol 6

  1. A flash of Syrian lightning appeared to him, lovely as it was.

    At evening, it reached him in the lands of the Romans, weary as he was.

  2. It traveled toward him like a phantom and stirred in him

    a brilliant, sudden longing for the old dwelling.

  3. Its journey reminded him of a flock in Syria,

    a breeze around the winding sands, and their cool air.

  4. In a valley whose heights are a hill and whose depths

    are silver waters flowing across the flats.

  5. Toward the shade of a dark green thicket from which a spring bursts, it went;

    souls drink their fill there, and its water is wholesome.

  6. The pebbles there ring like ornaments

    on the necks of beauties, adorned for their morning drink.

  7. The north wind steps through it, then turns away,

    and aged musk wafts from its collar.

  8. A land where once, in our youth,

    we wandered, going and returning in love.

  9. I exchanged it for another land, without being pleased with that one;

    I am sparing with beloved places, as anyone like me would be.

  10. Damascus, if pouring clouds pass your hills by,

    streams of tears from my eyes will water you.

  11. At the memory of you, a tremor seizes me,

    as a spirited creature trembles with the force of its energy.

  12. Your precinct is a place of delight; may it always be eloquent with beauties,

    and may the gathering place of lovely women be eloquent too.

  13. May the rain clouds water you and never pass by

    your hills, where there is ample room for desire.

  14. The desire is for a supple young woman: as for her figure,

    it is slender, and as for her bearing, it is poised.

  15. My heart and innermost self cling to where her earring falls;

    one flutters at the fluttering earring, and the other is wounded.

  16. I remembered her in the lands of the Romans, while her home is Syria,

    and nearly spoke aloud the love I had concealed.

  17. In the lands of the Romans, a dove’s lament kept me awake;

    she has a resonant call at midmorning and sings aloud.

  18. I answer her in lament, my eye generous with its water;

    a discerning stranger, too, has cause to lament.

  19. She lamented with her two chicks where she could see them,

    while vast deserts lie between me and my children.

  20. Two years have passed, and this is the third;

    they still incline toward that distant place.

  21. Perhaps Saʿd al-Dīn’s favor will turn my reins toward them,

    and my aim in praising his greatness will succeed.

  22. A guide of right conduct, Saʿd, the people’s good fortune, refined in

    his character and fragrant with every kind of giving.

  23. He instructs God’s shadow and makes His signs manifest

    in markings that shine upon the essence of things.

  24. Murād, whom God has granted enduring dominion

    and a long life before which Noah’s seems short.

  25. He is the manifestation of an essence that had been veiled,

    revealed in an array of qualities that shine through his adornment.

  26. He is the firmest bond for one who holds fast;

    he is the secret—understand what is disclosed of it.

  27. If your eye becomes truly clear, you will behold him

    and know that his symbolic language speaks plainly.

  28. Beware a hidden secret: before its disclosure stand

    the sharp swords of religious law, which permit blood to be shed.

  29. Say to a young man seeking the truth,

    if you possess sound judgment and profit by it,

  30. and long to grasp meanings,

    with ambition to attain eminence:

  31. Make your camel kneel in Saʿd’s precinct; good fortune serves him,

    and the moon in the sky and Yūḥ are their servants.

  32. There you will find glory spreading its pavilion,

    bright with the finest parts of his judgment and its clarity.

  33. From him you will receive generosity and high honor;

    through him, the face of giving greets you, radiant.

  34. O Saʿd, exalted in rank,

    whose lights shine across the eastern and western horizons:

  35. I find the finest of my stubborn verses obedient

    whenever I wish to praise you, though they are unruly.

  36. Others before me have led them to your door,

    each straining to offer you his praise.

  37. Yet they did not know that, to one of understanding, poetry

    has many kinds, some deficient and some excellent.

  38. Take from it a beautiful maiden of praise,

    the flowing waters of love poetry upon her form.

  39. If Mihyār caught the scent of her smiling mouth,

    he would grow drunk, though his home lay far away.

  40. Rare praises of your eminence have been strung together,

    wonders that themselves offer praise to praise.

  41. Across the pages of time, praise will remain immortal,

    though the earth’s surface gathers all humankind.

  42. It congratulates you on Nowruz, and the feast after it

    returns and departs according to your wishes.

  43. Raised by poetry, it has climbed to Sirius in height,

    hoping to rise still further—and that hope is sound.

  44. Your servant, amid the surging sea of your bounty, is hopeful;

    even if he has sinned, you are forgiving.

  45. Let him turn his reins toward his own home,

    for his exile and distance have lasted long.

  46. May you remain in the sky of kingship, a source of good fortune; Murād

    signals and makes known whatever you choose.

  47. May you remain the good fortune in the horizon of the caliphate;

    time is your obedient servant, and so is the Messiah.

Sol 6