Sol 6.1

  1. Your bounty therein, O utmost object of desire,

    Is wealth that makes him forget all humankind,

  2. And a homeland for which he yearns with longing,

    As a lover enslaved by passion yearns,

  3. And a lofty dwelling in the lands of al-Sham—

    May God water it with the clouds' freshest rain—

  4. It rivals Orion's shoulder in rank,

    And surpasses the Abode of Peace in splendor.

  5. How much more so, when you have sent me verse

    That resembles pearls on a necklace's thread,

  6. And prose beyond the versifier's power

    When he vies with it in composing words?

  7. For neither the Pleiades' necklace in its order,

    Nor the luminous stars in the darkness,

  8. Nor the lush garden, clothed in brocade

    By the hand of rain-bearing stars, pouring showers,

  9. Where a ban-tree turtledove sang among its boughs,

    Its plaintive song answering the doves' calls,

  10. Is lovelier in splendor than it, or sweeter

    To the heart of the lover distraught with love.

  11. So live on among the lords, a man of bounty,

    With it you trail the skirts of pride—rise high!

  12. Your court is a qibla, and your sanctuary a pillar,

    And your door is a Kaaba where I abide,

  13. Through all the days, so long as there yearns with longing

    A youth in Rum who pines for al-Sham.

Sol 6.1