Inasmuch as the mention arose of ‘Amīd, who was controller of all the states of Hindustān, it is essential to reproduce some thing from poems of his which are rarely met with:
Arise ‘Amīd, if thy heart is not cold and dead
Leave thy love-poems, and speak the praise of the Lord of
the world.
Praise the Court of Heaven, for he has raised on high many
an azure dome without the irksome aid of tools;
He has appointed two kings (the Sun and Moon) to travel
over this blue dome, and has allotted to them the planets
as attendant cavaliers on all sides.
The tiring woman of his skill has displayed a hundred
beauteous stars at nightfall from behind the curtain of
nine folds.*
He has ordained for the lady of the world, in Night and Day
two able handmaids with the titles of Rūmī and Hindū
(i.e., fair and dark).
Without any shop-keeper in the small shop of the sky, he has
suspended in one corner a pair of scales with two pans.*
His skill has caused the crimson anemone* to grow upon the
summit of the mountains, his bounty has caused the Sūrī7
and Rāhū7 to blossom in the garden.
At one time with the point of the compasses of his bounty
he has limned the form of the mouth: at another with the
pen of his favour he has delineated the two eyebrows.
The face of day by his bounty has become a blaze of whiteness 100.
The locks of the night by his skill have become a marvel of
blackness.
The kings of the earth* with submission and humility, in
search of honour have rubbed their faces in the dust of
his threshold.
Every month has its moon upon the plain of the sky, at one
time curved like the chaugān,* at another round like the ball.
So just is he, that at the time of dispensing justice he has
never injured any one even an hair's breadth by oppression.
That one who sought his food in the heart's blood of grapes
he made on the morrow black with disgrace like the cheek
of the plum.*
The partridge with its (weak) claws could attack a hundred
hawks if so many heads of ants give such power to the
partridge.
The morning breeze bestowed out of his all-encompassing
bounty upon Chīn and Khaā* the perfume of the bag of
the musk deer.
Hear from me oh friend, since you have heard the declaration
of unity, a piece of advice to hearing which both your ear
and mine are attentive.
Beware of giving an ear to the sound of the strings of the harp.
Beware of turning your attention to the flagon fashioned of
earth (wine flask)
Those who in this way live on good terms with their lovers,
such as you, do not say, Where is one of that company?
Do you yourself behold every morning, for the dove on the
garden bough by its song of Kū Kū* bears witness to this
beneficent one.
101. Cast thine eye upon the ground that thou mayest see poured
out there many a friend of kind aspect, and many a sweet-
natured loved one
Do thou ‘Amīd again lay hold of the thread of confession of
unity
And hang it upon the rosary of thy prayers as it were pearls.
Oh Sovereign Lord! world-possessing Deity who art ever-
living
Yet without (the intervention of the vivifying) spirit,* and
eloquent without a (material) tongue.
By thy order three daughters have come forth from the soul*
Without the pangs of childbirth, and without the intermediary
influence of a husband.
Compared with thy ancient order what is Kisrā* and what
is Qaiṣar
In face of thy decree what is the Khāqān and what is Halākū?
Without thy command no ant can draw a single breath
of its own will,
Without thy knowledge no sleeper turns from one side to the
other.
Although I like a harp am hump backed and head downwards,*
Yet in the assembly of thy hope I play the air of Yā Huwa.*
On that day when out of awe of thee all the assembly of the
prophets own their allegiance on bended knee,
Oh Lord do thou of thy clemency bestow upon me, wretched
man that I am, forgiveness, for I am defiled with disobedience and engulfed in it on all sides.
His also is the following in praise of the prophet may the peace and blessing of God be upon him*
I fashion now a garment of song the embroidery of whose
sleeve, flows gracefully from the* adornment of the soul
as the ornament of its divine Creator
102. I choose the path of thy forming by the ornament of straight-
forward praise,
Because the two worlds are an indication* of the embroidery
of its sleeve;
Rose of the garden of the prophetic office, than whose spikenard*
the morning breeze has never borne from Chīn to Māchīn*
a rarer odour from the fragrant musk.
Head of the created beings of the world, by whose glorious
advent, the heaven has brought forth a pearl of great
price from the shell as an offering.
The heaven has placed its two standards firmly planted in the
seventh of its citadels, throughout the length and breadth
of the world in the five stated times of prayer*
His onyx-like* eye has not cast one glance upon the signet of
Solomon* because there is the stamp of his seal upon everything from the moon above to the fish below.*
Fate and Destiny are his guardians, Eternity and Hope his
helpers,
Earth* and the time are his advocates, angels and heaven
pledged to him.
His lip is honey and his cheek a rose, what an advantage to
both worlds,
His gulangabīn* (confection of rose and honey) relieves the
tremor of disobedience,
The mouth of the shell is full of the pearls of his pearl-like
words,
The belt of the horizon is bejewelled with his widespread
faith,
The prosperity of the body of the faithful is in his left hand,
and the good fortune of the face of those who follow the
path of his religion is in his right hand.
The pages of the seven heavens are but an atom of his being,
The two worlds, compared with the stream of his might, are
but a sweat drop from his forehead,
The tongue of a green lizard* is one of the marks of his seal,
The web of the spider was a curtain which concealed his
relation,*
In the moon-bedecked heaven, one glance of his cleft the 103.
heart of the moon the beloved of the sky into two halves as
though it were a piece of cloth.*
Both beasts of prey and birds have girded the loins of faithfulness to him.
Both young babes and old men have opened their lips in his
praise.
The rose and the thorn of fragrant flowers are the fruits of
his love and kindness.
The (sweet) sugar and the (bitter) colocynth are both reminders of his love andwrath.
The garden, in submission* to his creative power, like the
violet has scratched its cheek (with vexation), Look!
there is a blue mark upon its jasmine cheek.
His body is composed of spirit of divine sanctity, which is the
purification of* the spirit of the human. One cannot reach
to his essential constitution, for his composition is of light.
When Barāq the lightning-fleet came under his stirrup he
leapt towards thehighest heavens so that the curved crescent moon was like the hinder part of his saddle.
When his courser trod the face of the plain of the earth he
placed his foot in such a way that the heaven became like
the earth to him.
One step of his reached to the extremity of the earth from the
house of Ummahānī,* the second step reached to the Sidra*
from the earth like the angels.
The orb of the sun, the untamed steed, was led along in his
cavalcade.
The moon having stamped a brand upon its quarter with
its horseshoe shaped crescent.
Consider the goodness of his nature in that for our sakes in
the next world, he has long pleaded the cause of his followers with a heart full of pity.
Wisdom, by his favour, is drawn out from the well of superstition by the rope of the cord of Chastity* which was his
104. mighty title
Asad Ullah leaving his lair, with his polished spear has torn
out the heart of the envious cur-hearted ones like the
tongue of a dog.
A band* like the ants of the ground travelling fast* along a
path slender as a hair.
Shining like the lightning from the brilliancy of the torch
of his religion.*
A band (of men lost) like a hair which has fallen into leaven*
by reason of his wrath fell into the fire from the bridge,
with their waists bound like the ant in their hostility.
On the surface of the board of his sincerity who can raise his
head in deceit* since not even the heaven survives the
throw of his two dice.*
Seven pillars are established by his four friends, for the
seven heavens which are firmly fastened to the pole.
Of these four stars* there are two conjunctions both of which
are fortunate. The Moon and Jupiter* are in conjunction,
each one with its own partner.
In the two ears of the four elements how happy is my earring.
From the two earrings* sprang eight Paradises with the
two lights which give sight to the eyes.
‘Amīd has devoted his powers in all directions to sing his
praises, if perchance the good and bad of his words may
gain some currency.
How can I boast of my descent, here, when I from my heart
supplicate the intercessor of the day of judgment whose
religion God approves.
From the embroidery of my eulogy, what legality* is evident,
in my magic? It is like wine whose pure brilliancy is
enhanced by the crystal cup.*
From the sugarcandy of his sayings the lips of the parrots
105. are imbued with sugar as though from the tray of eloquence they have eaten the crumbs of his wisdom.