Sol 6.1

  1. He recalled al-‘Aqiq, and tears flowed from his eyelids;

    and longing for its inhabitants consumed him.

  2. He inhaled youth's fragrance in the east wind,

    and, bound to heartache, yearned for his homelands.

  3. And, his heart aflame for the sanctuary, he was saddened

    by cooing gray doves that stirred his sorrows.

  4. They tell of passion from the leaves, and long have

    they studied love's arts among its boughs.

  5. Among them is one whose breast is free of anguish;

    she has not learned union's savor through separation.

  6. She spends evening and morning on the couches of a grove,

    with her mate, while life is in its prime.

  7. She seeks al-Sham's garden, the most fertile abode,

    where fragrant ‘arar leans toward its buttercups;

  8. where the landmarks shine with statue-like beauties,

    and lovely women circle its dwelling places.

  9. In the shade of welling silver, through which flowed

    the gold of late afternoon, streaming from its hollows.

  10. Dark in its shadows, as though its brownness were a lip's dusky tint;

    sweet-lipped, it has strayed away from its gazelles.

  11. While she roamed there from one sweetness to

    another, surpassing al-‘Udhayb and its ban trees,

  12. in life's serenity, a journey's intent cast her

    toward Rum—its turtledove—among its black mountain-spurs.

  13. Fate brought her down to a land where there had been no

    descent of revelation from His Criterion.

  14. Black, dark in its expanse, as though it were

    the envious man's heart, dark with its encrusting stain.

  15. So she began lamenting the abodes with tears

    pouring forth, matching the rain in its downpour.

  16. Her tormented heart held captive by heartache,

    her innards set aflame by its fires.

  17. She weeps whenever the sanctuary is recalled, where that sanctuary

    is a garden unrivaled in the heights of its boughs.

  18. She keeps scattering pearls from a tearful eye,

    like pearls strung on strands of its pearly beads,

  19. until she sees the sanctuary's garden, or beholds

    the garden of Ibn Bustan, the leader of his age:

  20. the judge of the armies, who attained a station

    where the radiant stars become his companions.

  21. He who ascends the heights of exaltation through his eloquence,

    who discerns judgment's secret through direct vision.

  22. He has a goal in glory; seeking to attain it, the

    encompassing sphere hastened in its revolutions.

  23. His goal outstripped it; then it sought redress against us, folding

    the scrolls of deeds in its haste.

  24. God be praised for a lord whose ambition's crown overtopped

    the crown of al-Simak, and settled above its station.

  25. A lord: excellence has donned the fairest robe,

    its embroidery the kindness of his beneficence.

  26. The shade of his face—if its light were faced by

    the full moon of night—would protect that moon from waning.

  27. And when the night of calamities darkens, his counsel

    shines amid them like sunlight in its brilliance.

  28. Resolute in his designs, the best lord, sought out by

    a caravan crossing the deserts in its brisk stride.

  29. In the folds of his two mantles is an imam of piety, and within

    his loins, Radwa, revealed after its severance.

  30. He is the one you know; leave all others. Whoever seeks

    the sea of noble deeds turns away from its pools.

  31. A sea from whose palms we have streams

    that overflow and pour from the channels of his fingertips.

  32. Smiling at his petitioners on the day of giving,

    like a garden whose showering dew smiles with it.

  33. Never has he turned away a petitioner, and his is a force

    of valor that keeps Time from unleashing its calamities.

  34. Transmitting the lore of learning from his Nu‘man,

    gathering excellence's arts from his garden, Bustan—

  35. the pure scholar, to whom were revealed,

    through unveiling, the workings of the Real in His entities.

  36. He polished the rust of colors from his mirror,

    and saw the Real's existence in His all-pervading flow.

  37. Thus he attained the eye of certainty, and has passed away,

    while the people remain heedless of his standing.

  38. May God pour the clouds of His mercy upon

    that tomb and those of his neighbors gathered there,

  39. until his grave's earth becomes the freshest garden,

    with luxuriant growth of its fragrant herbs.

  40. And may the Lord's greetings, every evening,

    be conveyed to him by the hands of His Ridwan.

  41. So by his claim upon you as master and father,

    and by the right of his good pleasure that you uphold,

  42. will you not look mercifully upon the servant at your gate?

    For Time has wronged him in its hostility.

  43. Show him kindness with an office that raises him

    among mankind, and distinguish him from his peers.

  44. For an ignoramus has grieved him: in his teaching post

    he advances, while the man of merit remains deprived.

  45. Far be it that what your generous hand has guarded should

    wither while the flood of your generosity still flows;

  46. or that bounty like yours should be delayed even an hour

    from him, when this moment is its proper time.

  47. And behold her unveiled, an Arab maiden whose homelands are

    the ravine of al-Ghuwayr and the meeting of its dunes.

  48. You have garlanded her with pearls of praise—pearls

    fresh, almost surpassing Oman's pearls.

  49. And you have dressed her in praise's embroidery, a richly patterned

    mantle, with musk wafting from its sleeves.

  50. And extend to her the hand of hope, and establish for her

    weight in Rum, so she may rise in its balance.

  51. For, among those people—my lord excepted—as to poetry,

    there is no distinction between its mongrel and its purebred.

  52. Remain safe, and endure in an enviable blessing

    for all time, with life in its luxuriant fullness.

  53. And your sons be moons of virtue, as long as there courses by night

    lightning, stirring the lovesick one with its gleam.

Sol 6.1