1. O dwelling of Rāmah, grazing ground of white gazelles,

    whose landmarks the days have effaced:

  2. never did my gaze turn toward you in greeting

    but my soul overflowed with salutations.

  3. Might I pause in its courtyards and thereby assuage

    the burning thirst of my longing for its inhabitant?

  4. A dwelling where I humbled my guarded tears

    and prolonged my yearning and my vigil.

  5. The calamity of separation left nothing of it but

    a ruin, decayed beneath time’s decree:

  6. a trench at the bend of the encampment, whose trace

    appears curved like an archer’s bow,

  7. and three neighbors who settled in its yard—

    dark-faced, noble doves.

  8. I reined in at the dwellings a company

    whose ribs bent over anguish and flame,

  9. collapsing upon their saddles like youths

    who fell prostrate after standing long.

  10. They drank from the cups of night travel the wine of slumber

    until they lay felled, though they had drunk no wine.

  11. A ruin—upon its heights I stood lamenting,

    shedding tears like a cloudburst,

  12. distraught, seeking amid the haunts of its trace

    a youth now gone, like a phantom’s fleeting stay.

  13. O you who recall to me the days of passion and youth,

    I remembered you with remembrance pouring like gentle rain.

  14. Youth and its lush abundance clothed you

    in robes that delight the admiring beholder.

  15. You were once the haunt of every slender white gazelle,

    yearning for you, and the home of every passion—

  16. each slim-waisted beauty, gazelle-like,

    whose glances strike the heart like arrows;

  17. a full-limbed maiden, watered by the freshness of youth,

    who became like a garden’s blossoms after streaming rain;

  18. a full moon amid the night of her hair: whenever she unveiled,

    the sun within it showed you the heart of darkness.

  19. She said, scattering matchless tears

    upon her cheek like the separate pearls of a necklace,

  20. while separation’s mounts were saddled for departure

    and separation’s hand reached for the loose end of the rein:

  21. “Would that He who created separation had made the pebbles

    beneath their hooves my joints and bones!”

  22. I answered her when I heard her words,

    while tears streamed for fear of our parting:

  23. “Do not despair at what has befallen you; perhaps

    departure may become a means of reaching an abode.

  24. Toward the court and dwelling of Abū al-Suʿūd

    urge the mounts, and you shall attain your desire—

  25. at the court of the finest scholar ever to tread the earth,

    the most faithful to his covenant among all mankind;

  26. the best of men, whose judgments never grow confused

    when deserts and landmarks become indistinguishable.

  27. At his heights generosity is found unloading its saddle,

    and glory too—not in lowlands or hills.

  28. A beacon of guidance, an ocean of bounty, a lord of gifts,

    through all time the best guide to his people;

  29. he whose thresholds have ever been, for those of understanding,

    the sanctuary of largesse and the Kaaba of honor.

  30. Indeed, if you claim kinship with his heights

    through this bond, you will then be safe from destitution.

  31. The resolve of his ambition journeys across the horizons

    and pitches glory’s pavilion above all heads.

  32. Through him this faith has armed itself with a sword

    keen-edged as the invincible Ṣamṣām.

  33. For the faith he stood firm as a mountain, before which

    the hills of Raḍwā fell short of his lofty summits.

  34. Forbearance takes refuge in him whenever

    the winds of rashness scatter men’s minds.

  35. Chaste in honor, he trails the robes of piety

    and faith, without arrogance or violence.

  36. The temptations of this world cannot entice him, even if

    it smiles upon him with its radiant mouth.

  37. My lord, O pillar of right guidance and true direction,

    you who have become the faith’s finest support:

  38. may the rain clouds never visit your dwelling only by fits and starts, for it

    is our fortress against the assaults of time.

  39. To your spacious sanctuary there has come a maiden,

    smiling, resplendent as the full moon.

  40. She has sought you from the heights of Damascus, hoping

    to gain your kindness, O kindest of noble lords.

  41. May your court remain protected by a dynasty

    that rises ever higher through days and years—

  42. as long as the exile yearns for home, and as long as

    grey doves coo upon the branches of balsam trees.

Sol 6.1